"Knock knock."

As the office door was knocked again, Erhard politely shouted, "Please come in!" ”

Erhard took a good look at the lid of the pen in his hand, gently placed it in the upper right corner of the table, and smiled at a middle-aged man who was pushing the door in.

"It's you, Comrade Valentin." Looking at the familiar figure in front of him, Erhard, who was his boss, said with a smile on his face.

Yes, Erhard is a German, and he is also the head of the German side of the Kiev cooperative in Ukraine, one of the many German cooperatives for the construction of the Soviet-German railway.

But after all, it was on the territory of the Soviet Union, so he also learned the name that the Soviets liked to use.

Of course, calling him comrade does not mean that Erhard is really like-minded with these Soviets. Here, at least, Erhard's status is much higher than that of Valentin, the head of the Soviet side in the cooperative, who is nominally of the same rank as him.

This is not because Erhard always likes to wear that majestic leather jacket on weekdays, which looks more domineering than Valentin, who only wears cloth clothes. The core reason for this status gap is that the expenditure of the Soviet-German railway construction cooperatives was all provided by the German government behind Erhard, and had almost nothing to do with the Soviet government.

On the one hand, this was due to the "rigorous" cooperative attitude of the Germans, who decided that they would have to do a good job of the standard European railway network promised to the Soviet Union. As a result, almost all the materials needed to build roads were shipped to the Soviet Union by Germany as soon as possible.

The Germans were so keen to help them build the railroad that the Soviet officials were naturally happy in their hearts. Once the construction of an efficient railway is completed, every kilometer of railway built will add credit to their political achievements. So almost no one is against it.

Coke is willing to be, but apart from naming and arranging a head of the cooperative on the same level as Germany, the local governments of the Soviet Union do not care about all the materials needed by the cooperative.

The cooperatives need people, so let the Germans recruit them. If you need food to feed these people, let the Germans make it up themselves. What, who gives wages and benefits? Of course, it's the Germans.

In any case, the order issued by the higher authorities is that it is only necessary for the local governments to provide all the convenience for the railway construction project and to supply the equipment, equipment and construction materials needed for the construction of the project. If you don't ask for other problems, you can leave it alone.

Of course, this is not to say that our Soviet government took advantage of the Germans. If you want to, you can completely order the people to make a compulsory contribution to the construction of the country, not give a penny, regardless of food and clothing, just arrange tasks and let them do it.

It's you Germans who are brainless and don't know how to use this kind of means to get free labor, and who is to blame for the stupid food, clothing and wages? If you want to blame it, blame yourself for your brainlessness.

"Comrade Erhard......." Valentin also knew that the head of the Soviet side was just a fictitious post set up by the superior officials to divide the credit, and he had no power, and all the expenses in the cooperative had to be obtained by Erhard in Germany. Therefore, Valentin has always lowered his profile and communicated with Erhard: "There is one thing....... I hope you can help......"

When Valentin spoke, he was slurring, and his tone was a little embarrassed, so there was no need to guess, and Erhard also knew what the other party was asking for him.

This is the 7th time!

"I know, this is the 7th time I've come to ask you for help, and it's so much of a hassle....... But I can't help it, only you can help those people who are suffering. Valengin also knew that he was always troublesome to Erhard, and he was quite guilty when he spoke.

"What? My friend, someone asked you to help you get a job in the cooperative? Unlike Valentin's embarrassment, Erhard joked calmly: "You know, our cooperative doesn't need so many people at all." To put it bluntly, these people just want to come and eat rice. ”

Valentin, who was broken, looked even more embarrassed, he raised his voice, blushed and argued: "No, no, they don't eat rice, they just want to eat mixed food." I promise that as long as the cooperative arranges the work, they can do it carefully. ”

"My friend, give them a way to live, when I beg you....... Save my fellow citizens! With tears in his eyes, Varian began his seventh plea.

In fact, he begged Erhard 7 times in a row, and every time the other party just agreed, Valengin came to Erhard again not long after, which is not to say that Valengin is a person who has to make inches and is brazen.

On the contrary, Valentin wants face, and loves face. If he hadn't lived in Ukraine, if he hadn't been for the skinny compatriots around him, he would never have come to Erhard, a German, again and again.

Seven years ago, Stalin signaled a decree prohibiting Ukrainian peasants from appropriating any agricultural products for themselves, and an unusual famine crisis began in Ukraine, a treasure trove of grain.

After prohibiting the peasants from taking possession of the harvested grain, Stalin instructed another secret decree to take into public ownership all the means of production throughout Ukraine, such as agricultural tools, livestock, seeds, etc., and to prohibit the import of any grain and manufactured goods into the Ukrainian countryside, and to prohibit the sale of commodities and agricultural products in other places throughout Ukraine. In addition, grain search teams were sent to rural Ukraine, confiscating farmers' surpluses, rations and seed grains.

As a result, in Ukraine, a land with high grain production, grain has become only able to go out, not in.

At the same time, Stalin banned the movement of Ukrainian victims, completely cut off communication between Ukraine and the Don River valley from the outside world, and declared that any starving people who tried to leave Ukraine without permission would be arrested for treason.

In this way, the Ukrainian name has no way to run, so it can only stay and work as a permanent coolie for the Soviet Union, exporting grain to all parts of the Soviet Union, but there is no food to use.

It is also ridiculous to say that a feng shui treasure land with a grain output of more than 20 million tons has begun to starve to death one after another. The most terrifying thing is that even though he knows that this is not a solution, he still has to stay and continue to work as a coolie, starving while growing food for the country......

Fortunately, there is no endless road. Just when Ukraine was in the midst of a famine crisis, the cooperatives of the Germans in association with the Soviet government came.

As a special project approved by the government, all farmers who join the railway construction cooperative can be exempted from agricultural work and do not have to deliver grain. The Germans, on the other hand, seemed to be very wealthy, and as soon as they arrived, they paid everyone in the cooperative, gave them food, and occasionally gave them groceries.

These are all made in Germany.

In Germany, these things are not necessarily unusual. But in Ukraine, a can of Flying Fish brand luncheon meat can make countless people salivate and envy.

On one side are Ukrainian peasants working for the Soviet Union, struggling every day on the edge of the subsistence line, facing the fear of starvation to death. On the other hand, in the cooperatives that work for the Germans, there are rye bread and jam, and even the occasional canned luncheon meat.

In this case, if there is a little relationship, who does not want to transfer from the collective farm to the Soviet-German railway to build a cooperative?

Fools don't want to!