Struggle in Soviet Russia

Starting at ten o’clock in the morning, a thick cloud from the north has swallowed the entire sky of Stalingrad area bit by bit. The weather department’s forecast shows that this is a wave from within the Arctic Circle. The low-pressure air mass swept over, if nothing else, there will be a heavy snowfall in the Stalingrad area from later today to tomorrow.

Sure enough, just after noon, sporadic snowflakes floated up, and less than one o'clock, the initial light snow became medium snow, and there was a tendency of getting bigger and bigger.

East of Stalingrad, on the highway to Akhtubinsk, a convoy of several trucks and two jeeps was driving east in the wind and snow.

In the second jeep, Victor played with the golden medal in his hand. The row of Russian letters separated by five golden stars on the front of the medal showed who the medal was used to commend.

"To defend Stalingrad."

This is a medal for the defense of Stalingrad. Two months ago, it was issued by the Supreme Soviet Presidium just now. It was a medal set up specifically for the Battle of Stalingrad. Its function is to reward those who bravely defended Stalin. Soldiers and civilians of Geller.

Victor did not participate in the Battle of Stalingrad. During the battle, he did not even come here. However, as the main person in charge of the intelligence department, he also made important contributions to the victory of the Battle of Stalingrad. It is recognized by the General Political Department and the Supreme Command, so he is also eligible for such a medal.

At least Comrade Stalin thought he was qualified for such a medal.

This afternoon, the grand honour award ceremony prepared by the General Political Department will be opened in the Bekotovka district of Stalingrad. At this ceremony, not only a large number of soldiers, commanders and civilian representatives will be commended, but also Some troops will also receive the honorary title of "Guards" from the Supreme Command.

It's a pity that, as Comrade Stalin said, as the person in charge of intelligence work, Victor did not have the opportunity to step onto the podium to receive the medal, because of the particularity of his job, he could not get that kind of honor.

In fact, with the gradual improvement of Victor's status in the National Security People's Committee, his own presence in the alliance has not only not been improved, but has rapidly faded. His name has been eliminated from any public documents and reports.

From this point of view, we can also see how short human memory is. You must know that he was a big show only a year ago, and now, it seems that everyone has forgotten him.

Remove the ribbon of the medal and put it back into the box. Victor reached out and handed it to Sophia who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

Sophia was obviously very interested in this medal. She opened the box again and took out the medal to play with it carefully.

For many people, no, it should be said that for most people, whether it is a medal or a medal, it is a symbol of honor, and it is worth showing off to get one.

But Victor has no such emotions. To be honest, he is not very interested in this thing. Although he is also a "Hero of the Soviet Union" title winner, he has only worn the medal that symbolizes the highest honor. once.

Nowadays, Victor's mind is very heavy, especially this morning, when Comrade Stalin handed him the medal and told him that he could not be allowed to participate in the award ceremony, Victor suddenly felt a sense of crisis in his heart. .

Since rebirth, Victor's thoughts, or his goals, have undergone an evolutionary process.

Even today, he hasn't really thought about, or really planned how much power he has to master and climb to the highest position. He seems to have only one belief, and that is to live safely until the day of natural death.

At first, he only wanted to escape from the crisis-ridden Ukraine and Lviv. Later, he wanted to avoid the front line and not be a poor cannon fodder. For this, he worked very hard and did his best to achieve results.

In the past nearly a year, he seemed to have done this perfectly. He entered Moscow and became a senior staff member of the NKVD. The front line was completely far away from him. He didn't have to worry about being flew somewhere. One cannonball or one bullet that came has dried up.

After that, he began to plan to stay away from the dangerous Beria, because the experience of the previous life told him that Beria was very dangerous. This person will be liquidated after Comrade Stalin’s death. Those who come close to him will also Don't die well.

Therefore, when he chose a position, he broke away from Beria, and when the NKVD was separated from the NKVD, he successfully seceded from the former and became the current “fourth” in the NKVD. One of the "giants", and still ranked second.

But today, Comrade Stalin's inadvertent remark made Victor's letter a strong sense of crisis.

What kind of crisis awareness?

That is his current status and power. It is entirely dependent on the trust of Comrade Stalin. No, not just him, it can be said that any commissar of the National Security People’s Committee is like this.

In some respects, these people have high status. Because of the particularity of their positions, they even have the special status of "seeing officials at a higher level."

Take Victor as an example. Even if he doesn't even have the status of a member of the Central Committee, if he talks with most of the members of the Central Committee with a straight face, the other party will be scared into a cold sweat. Those state party secretaries, and even some of the leaders who joined the Republic, don't necessarily dare to confront people like him, because the danger is too high.

What kind of department is the National Security People’s Committee? It is organized by special departments of the former NKVD. It can be said that the frightening part of the functional departments in the NKVD has now been merged into the organizational sequence of the NKVD. .

Regardless of whether it is the Internal Intelligence Agency or the Counterintelligence Bureau, but the special department or the special department responsible for thinking and propaganda, these departments were the leading departments that the People's Committee of the Interior launched the great purge.

This special nature determines that Victor, the first deputy commissar of the People’s Committee for National Security, will not have too many friends or personal prestige. To put it in place, within the scope of the Soviet Union, Most officials don't even want to hear his name-even though he has nothing to do with the purge in the 1930s.

It is also the particularity of this job. It was decided that it is difficult for Victor to cultivate his own political power. What he can do is to attach to a certain political strongman and become a tool in the hands of the other party. Perhaps it is the best and sharpest tool. But in the final analysis, it is a tool.

Of course, there is an exception, but it is foreseeable that such an exception will not occur during the reign of Comrade Stalin.

What kind of exception? Victor has been reborn in this world for so long, and he has a sufficient understanding of the political operating rules of this country. In his view, this exception is the realization of the so-called "collective leadership".

Only when such a powerful department as the People's Committee of National Security ceases to be a tool for party and power struggles, but only as a department, talents like them will be able to escape the destiny of becoming a tool.

But is this situation possible? Victor didn't know, at least he couldn't see any hope for now.

However, at this time Victor still failed to find his own direction, and a large part of the reason was that he did not understand the history of the Soviet Union. Otherwise, he would know that in the history of his previous life, the low-key especially How did Comrade Vladimirovich rely on the post of Chairman of the People’s Committee for National Security to defeat many competitors, and finally upheld the cunning "grey bishop" Suslov and ascended to the highest power of the Soviet Union in one fell swoop Throne again.

Of course, for the current Victor, the emergence of a sense of crisis is not a bad thing. Since becoming the first deputy commissar of the National Security People’s Committee, his life seems to be too easy, and enough sense of crisis is OK. Give him more motivation to move forward.

No one likes struggle, especially the dark and cunning political struggle, but there are many things that people cannot escape on the way forward. Everyone wants to gain more power and climb to the position of Gauguin, but the position above is limited. If you don't get those guys on your head and those guys who can compete with you, you won't be able to get up. Therefore, the road to power is like kayaking on the edge of a waterfall.

The convoy was rushing east on the vast snowy field. Victor is going to a special place now. It is 95 kilometers from Stalingrad and only 30 kilometers from the border of Kazakhstan. It is in the lower reaches of the Volga River. .

More than two months ago, the 39th and 51st divisions of the Astrakhan Border Guard were dispatched to that vast and uninhabited area. Tens of thousands of soldiers braved the wind and snow to build in the uninhabited desert. A temporary camp and a desert with an area of ​​more than 60,000 square kilometers are designated as no man's land and no-fly zone.

"Kapuskiyar", the name was personally named by Comrade Stalin, and the town named after it is currently inhabited by less than five hundred people, all of whom were gathered from all over the Soviet Union. Among the experts in aerodynamics, rockets, mathematics, etc., there are nearly forty academicians of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

Yes, this is the first rocket engineering construction base in the history of the Soviet Union, and the main work here is the technical equipment department of the National Security People’s Committee.