"Will the general secretary attend today's regular Politburo meeting?" Gorbachev sat in his office, quietly waiting for an answer. www.biquge.info According to the regulations, if General Secretary Chernenko is unable to attend, he will appoint a member of the Politburo Standing Committee to preside over the meeting in his place, and Gorbachev presided over the last regular meeting of the Politburo. And this time, for the sake of balance, perhaps the task of presiding over the meeting will be in the hands of Gromyko. Still, Gorbachev had a glimmer of hope.

Gorbachev has a plan for today's meeting that needs to be discussed at today's meeting, and Gorbachev intends to use the model of the workers' new city to carry out a large-scale housing renovation program in Moscow, transforming the buildings built during the Khrushchev era into modern complex communities like the workers' new city. In fact, it is most appropriate for Seryosha to operate this matter, but the import of grain by the Ministry of Foreign Trade is more important. Later, Yakovlev recommended to him a comrade from other places - Yeltsin, first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional party committee. He has a beautiful resume background in construction, municipal engineering and even industrial construction, and most importantly, he is also a member of the Central Committee, so he can be arranged to be a leader in the Ministry of Construction, so that he can control the building in his own hands.

There were less than ten minutes left before the regular meeting, just as Gorbachev was about to leave his office in disappointment. His special phone rang suddenly, and Gorbachev's heart suddenly rejoiced, and he returned to his seat to calm down. Then he took a deep breath, picked up the microphone and put it to his ear and said: "This is Gorbachev, please speak!" ”

"Secretary Gorbachev, I'm sorry that I'm not feeling well today, I'm afraid I need you to preside over today's regular meeting in my place! Please tell the comrades, and say sorry for me! On the phone, General Secretary Chernenko gasped.

"Take care, General Secretary! Hope you get well soon! Gorbachev said in a calm and passenger tone, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up, and now he could crush Gromyko again.

Gorbachev happily picked up the folder and walked out of the conference room. The cadres who met him along the way all consciously stopped and said to him: "Hello Secretary Gorbachev!" Gorbachev thought to himself, when would it be good to replace Secretary Gorbachev with General Secretary Gorbachev.

In the conference room of the Supreme Soviet, several members of the Politburo Standing Committee took their seats in advance! Each of them has already received a comrade from the General Secretary's office, knowing that today's meeting is being chaired by Gorbachev. Many people originally thought that if General Secretary Chernenko did not attend, it would be Gromyko's turn to preside over the meeting this time!

Gorbachev sat in the position of general secretary of Chernenko, and everyone looked at him unconsciously. Gorbachev cleared his throat, and then announced: "General Secretary Chernenko is not feeling well and will not come today, and he asked me to say sorry to everyone!" Today's meeting is chaired by me, so let's follow the process! Everyone will give a general idea of what needs to be discussed on their side, Comrade Gromyko, let you start first! ”

Gromyko glanced at Gorbachev with complicated eyes, and then opened his folder. The rest of the Standing Committee members listened attentively, and each of them had about five minutes to speak. The 12 members of the Standing Committee (Chernenko was not present) took turns for exactly an hour, and then there will be specific discussions on a number of key issues, and the vote will be taken. In this way, it is efficient for a regular meeting to end in three hours.

After a round of speeches, everyone roughly understood what everyone was doing. Gorbachev's topic was Moscow's new municipal planning, while Gromyko's topic was about the selection of people to visit Britain. Obviously, neither of these things is so easy to do. This kind of thing often happens, and if there is a serious disagreement on a certain issue during the vote, no one can convince anyone. As long as it is not very urgent, it can be postponed to the next regular meeting! The question of who to visit Britain has been going on for several months, and Gromyko wants to go to Britain himself, so he obstructs Gorbachev in every way. Gromyko was an old comrade, much more politically educated than Gorbachev, so he was able to put the issue on hold every time in this matter. However, Gromyko had a disadvantage in visiting the UK, he was an expert on the diplomatic front, but the main topic of this visit was trade. The Secretariat's say in this matter is much greater than that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Therefore, Gromyko was not the best person to visit Britain, but he would rather not go than let Gorbachev go.

"Comrades, now we are once again voting on the question of the candidates to visit the UK! Since the British side has extended an invitation to me personally, I will not express my opinion! Okay, now comrades who agree to re-appoint candidates to visit Britain, please raise your hands! Gorbachev declared.

Not surprisingly, several of Gromyko's allies raised their hands, though not more than half of them. However, since many members of the Standing Committee of the Brezhnev faction abstained from voting on this issue, almost every time it was a five-to-five meeting.

"Comrades who oppose the reassignment of candidates to visit the UK, please raise your hand?" Gorbachev then asked.

Gorbachev's gaze swept over, and the Standing Committee members who supported him raised their hands one after another. One, two, three...... Wait, why did Tikhonov support himself? The people of the Dnepropetrovsk gang have raised their hands, what day is it, I'm not dreaming, right?

The smile on Gromyko's face began to hang away, why would Tikhonov support Gorbachev? What deal did they struck? Why didn't the wind come out at all? Gromyko looked at Gorbachev in surprise, and he found that Gorbachev also seemed a little surprised? For Chernenko's gift, neither of the two people with interests was prepared.

"Yes, comrades! It seems that everyone has already had an opinion, thank you for your support, and I will be responsible for the mission of this visit to the UK! Gorbachev tried to calm himself down, knowing that he had won a crucial battle with Gromyko, and that he would not retire at the party congress in a year and a half as long as he did not mess up the mission of his visit to Britain and prove that the party still needed him. When the time comes, a large number of young cadres that Andropov has trained for himself will be promoted to the Central Committee, and his own strength will be enhanced.