But Jiangbei's request in front of him had to be considered. Yang Zhen knew that what Kovalev just said was not just a simple threat, but probably more of a warning. Once the Anti-Japanese Alliance really refused
If they meet their demands, with the leader of Jiangbei as a person, he will definitely cut off all his external communication lines. I have already had a deep understanding of this.
But he was asked to take out all the fine grain reserves in the base area at once, so that his people, cadres, and soldiers could eat coarse grains and eat big pancakes every day. Under the circumstances of last year's bumper grain harvest, the people and troops could not even see any fine grains.
, and Yang Zhen was extremely reluctant. This greatly affected the morale of the military and the people.
After thinking for a while, Yang Zhen said: "Comrade Kovalev, since you already know our annual grain output, you should also know that we ourselves also need a certain amount of fine grain. Otherwise, it will be extremely detrimental to the morale of the military and the people. You have to know
, once these 150,000 tons of wheat are taken out, the fine grain reserves in the entire base area will be almost completely empty."
"Indeed, the area of our base areas has indeed expanded now, and the development speed of the Production and Construction Corps is also quite fast. However, the entire agricultural system is still in the transformation stage. The new base areas are still mainly based on old sorghum and other varieties, and the planting plan is only
Although adjustments can be made this year, the overall wheat production is still quite limited."
"In this way, we will first provide you with 100,000 tons of wheat this year, and we will use corn to offset the remaining 50,000 tons. As for the amount of other agricultural products you need, we can increase the supply. If you insist, we will provide you with the remaining 50,000 tons.
We will supply it to you after this year’s planting adjustments are completed and this year’s autumn harvest is completed.”
Regarding Yang Zhen's request, Kovalev said firmly: "Comrade Yang Zhen, I don't think we should discuss this matter anymore, okay? We have already reported this matter to Moscow, and Moscow has agreed with us.
The plan is now irreversible, and we cannot change what Moscow has decided."
Even though he has a good relationship with Yang Zhen in private, he is an officer of the Soviet Army after all, and what he considers more in his heart is the interests of Jiangbei, especially the Far East Military Region. At present, the food supply in the Far East is far from self-sufficient.
We cannot get rid of our dependence on the western region for our main food needs.
Under the current situation that only the Trans-Siberian Railway can be used as a transportation line connecting the grain-rich hinterland of the Soviet Union, the Far East has been unable to form a certain scale of grain reserves, which has been a headache for the leaders of the Far East for many years.
Especially after the September 18th Incident, in the face of pressure from the Japanese army, the Far East Military Region and the Pacific Fleet continued to expand, and the demand for food was increasing. Finding a reliable and stable food supply channel at close range has become a necessity.
The most urgent matter for the senior officials of the Far East Military Region, which controls the military and political power in the Far East, is
Although the Far East Military Region began to gradually transfer the hundreds of thousands of troops deployed here to the west after Yang Zhen achieved a great victory in the summer operations last year, under the military pressure that still exists from the Japanese army, the Far East region still needs to maintain a certain scale of military strength.
This is a view shared by the Far Eastern Military District and Moscow.
For the Far East Military Region, it has always been a worry that the transportation links with the Soviet Union are too weak. All supply lines rely on a railway line with a total length of more than 9,000 kilometers. Does anyone know what this supply line has? How fragile. Once a certain point on this railway line is destroyed, the entire Far East will be paralyzed.
Due to labor constraints, the grain production in the entire Far East is simply not enough to meet the minimum standards of local demand. Only in the Primorsky Krai, which has the best agricultural conditions, the annual output of all kinds of grains combined is less than 100,000 tons. , and this number is not enough to garrison troops in the Far East.
Looking for a reliable source of food to supplement their own production shortfalls and ease the pressure on transportation, the top brass of the Far East Military Region turned their attention to the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which had expanded its base area. In this matter, Kovalev and There was no difference between his superiors, and their attitude was even more resolute. As soon as Yang Zhen expressed his thoughts, he met with his firm opposition.
Looking at the resolute and uncompromising Kovalev, Yang Zhen frowned deeply. Yang Zhen knew that if he could make this smooth-minded guy publicly express such an attitude, he might really mean what he said. There is no room for adjustment in this matter.
Forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart, Yang Zhen said: "Comrade Kovalev, I said that 150,000 tons of wheat is not impossible, but now we really can't get it. We can hand over 100,000 tons first, and the rest will wait until this autumn harvest. Later, after the full handover, we cannot possibly hand over all our lifeblood to you."
"Comrade Kovalev, you are a witness to our growth from weak to strong. I hope you can put yourself in our shoes and consider that you want to eat white bread. We can understand this, but our wounded and sick and base areas If you are an elderly person, your children don’t need nutrition.”
"We adults can eat bran vegetables, but can those growing children and the sick and wounded in urgent need of nutrition only eat whole grains? Your people need nutrition and eat wheat. Do we Chinese only have to eat whole grains in this life?" It is not qualified to eat fine grains if it is eaten with glutinous rice bran."
"Comrade Kovalev, what is the difference between what you are doing and those Japanese imperialists who regard Chinese people who eat fine grain as economic prisoners? What is the difference between what you are doing and naked robbery? You have to give us some time to breathe, even if you come up with this number after the autumn harvest, we will find a way to satisfy you."
"Right now, we really can't get out 150,000 tons of wheat at once. Regarding the issue of grain, we must keep a certain amount of reserves. This is a problem that even fools know. If you really force others to make things difficult for us, then we I can only follow you, but I want to see who dares to be your ally in the future if you do this."
"Also, what is the quantity of 150,000 tons of wheat? You also know what the going price of this wheat is in the international market. I think you also know that only two engine technologies are replaced, and they are not your latest technologies. Comrade Kovalev, have we suffered a big loss?"
"Taking a step back, there should be a bargaining process in doing business. You just imposed a figure that we can't afford and don't allow us to make counter-offers. Isn't it a little too overbearing? You only look at what's inside our base area. Have you calculated our annual grain production and our annual consumption?"
"All the food has been brought to you. If we encounter a famine this year, are we all going to eat grass? Comrade Kovalev, we also know that when you ask for food, you must be in need. We are not a little bit I’m not going to satisfy you, but again, these things can’t just be judged by their superficial endurance.”
Listening to the anger in Yang Zhen's tone, Kovalev shook his head and said: "Comrade Yang Zhen, two-thirds of these grains and livestock products are used to repay the loan you owed us before, and the rest One-third is used to exchange the two engine technologies."
"We are not a capitalist country that forgets about profit and does not care about anything when it comes to profit. I have told you that this number was only come out after careful calculation. It may be difficult for you. , but it won’t hurt your roots.”
"Comrade Yang Zhen, you can't just ask for it from us, you also have to bear corresponding obligations. Now you have defaulted on our loan, which has reached hundreds of millions of rubles. In addition, the cost of refueling your plane when flying across the border has accumulated to nearly 100 million rubles." Tens of millions of rubles, and the amount of petroleum products we provided to you last year has not yet been paid off."
"Although the amount of your loan arrears is getting larger and larger, in order to support the Chinese people in resisting imperialist aggression, we have still not stopped providing you with the supplies you need at preferential prices. When your planes transited the Soviet territory, they never stopped encounter any obstacles."
"When refueling, we have used accumulated income and have never asked you to pay in cash. However, since you opened the route to the customs, you have not paid us one kopeck for refueling and landing fees. Our Far East Military Region is You have also not settled any accounts for all expenses incurred in training aviation and armored forces."
"All of this is the Soviet fulfilling its international obligations, but Comrade Yang Zhen, you also know that the Soviet people's funds are not blown by strong winds, but are accumulated bit by bit by all the people. We cannot just talk about giving, Nothing gained at all.”
"We consider your affordability, but you must also consider our affordability. Under the circumstances that your financial resources are still relatively limited and other payment methods are relatively laborious, compared to the coal that we do not urgently need, we I think it is more appropriate to use food as a means of payment."
"Food is what we urgently need right now. The quantity is indeed a bit more, but it is not something you can't bear. Comrade Yang Zhen, you are procrastinating and unwilling to delay the obligations you are able to undertake, right? It’s a little too much.”
Kovalev's attitude was firm, and Yang Zhen's attitude was not soft either: "Comrade Kovalev, I can only give you two choices. One is to hand over 100,000 tons of wheat before May, plus 50,000 tons of corn. and some livestock products, and the remaining 50,000 tons of wheat will be transferred to us after the autumn harvest."
"Otherwise, we will pay a lump sum of 120,000 tons of wheat, and we will supplement the remaining shortfall with potatoes, onions, meat products, and soybeans before mid-July. If you allow us, we can also increase the amount as appropriate. Quantity of supply of part of the corn.”
"You can't even wait for a few months, but you are still short of 50,000 tons of wheat. Your entire Far East Military Region and all the people in the Far East region will go hungry. If the entire Far East region does not even have 50,000 tons of grain reserves, , Do you think I will believe it, Comrade Kovalev, taking on obligations does not mean going hungry."