"I found out when I got back to Moscow." Bukharin nodded, and said, "In fact, as early as 1932, when hundreds of thousands of homeless children were driven by hunger to pour into railway stations and big cities, Stalin issued a secret order: all those who were caught red-handed for robbing food warehouses and pickpocketing trains, as well as those who contracted willow disease, were to be shot. Such executions are carried out in secret. As a result of this mass murder and other 'administrative measures', the problem of street children was raised before the summer of 1934. It has already been solved in purely Stalinist way. ”

Hearing Bukharin's answer, Zhou Guansheng nodded quietly and motioned for him to continue.

In other words, the current decree is not aimed at street children at all, because there is no longer a need for it. It was intended to serve a different purpose entirely, and it was obvious, because Stalin was subduing us, our 'old comrades-in-arms', by torture in order to bring us to the trial in Moscow. ”

"As I have already mentioned, Zinoviev and Kamenev had at one time satisfied Stalin's desire for revenge by admitting in secret trials in 1935 that they were 'morally and politically' responsible for the Kirov murder. But it only saved them for a while. In order to cut off both of them and other members of the party, Stalin now demanded that Zinoviev and Kamenev unequivocally admit that they were the culprits of the plot to kill Kirov and that they wanted to kill him. In order to force Zinoviev and Kamenev to confess this crime, and at the trial conference, it was necessary to find the most vulnerable and sensitive breakthrough point in the hearts of these people, and thus decide to use the corresponding means of coercion. ”

"The breakthrough point has now been found, and that is the attachment of the old Bolsheviks to their children and grandchildren. In fact, this threat of children has already been used once by opposition leaders. But the opposition leaders did not believe in this threat at the time, and they believed that Stalin would not dare to do such a thing openly. But now, a newspaper with the decree is in front of all the imprisoned oppositionists. The Act obliges the courts to apply all the provisions of the Penal Code to children and to impose any punishment, including the death penalty, on children. The leaders of the opposition now understood that they had underestimated Stalin too much. Their children are in danger of dying. In this way, the new decree, as the most effective trump card for conducting mental oppression and psychological offensives, entered Stalin's arsenal of torture. I can tell you one more thing, and that is Nikolai, the secretary of the Central Committee? Yezhov personally ordered that the interrogators must put the text of this decree on the interrogation table at each interrogation. ”

"It seems that we are underestimating this 'Red Tsar' as well." Zhou Guansheng looked at the "Descending Dragon" and said, "His wrist is much more clever than we imagined." ”

"Typical Russian tyrant, but not wise." Mizui sneered, "He has no way of knowing what the consequences of his actions will be. ”

"Descending Dragon" glanced at Shuijing and Zhou Guansheng, turned his head to Bukharin and said, "What is the purpose of your visit to China this time?" ”

"Save my life." Bukharin smiled bitterly and said.

"I hope to continue my research in China." Bukharin, seeing the look of surprise in the eyes of the three Chinese, said calmly, "I hope to write down everything I have experienced before the end of my life and leave the truth to the world." ”

Bukharin said, taking out a letter from his clothes and handing it to the "descending dragon".

"This is my will." Bukharin, then, said, "I have a hunch that in China, even if I have the protection of the Chinese political axe, I will not necessarily escape Stalin's butcher's knife, and I hope that after my death, the Chinese political axe will make all this public." ”

"Don't you want to fight Stalin?" Zhou Guansheng asked.

"I was against Stalin, but I didn't want to be an instrument against the Russian revolution." Bukharin met Zhou Guansheng's gaze and said, "I firmly believe that Lenin's cause will be successful. ”

"Understood." "Descending Dragon" stood up, stretched out his hand and shook Bukharin, "I will report your request, I believe you will be treated well in China, whether you will help us or not." ”

"Thank you." Bukharin's eyes flashed with a trace of imperceptible tears, but they were still seen by Zhou Guansheng.

Soon, Bukharin's will was sent to Yang Shuoming.

“…… Perhaps it will not be long before bad luck will fall upon me, and I want to say this to you before I die, I am not bowing my head before the proletarian axe, which should be ruthless, but it should also be pure. I bowed my head before the evil Stalin's [***] machine, and I felt powerless because this machine actually used the methods of the Middle Ages, and it had incomparably great power to concoct a lot of gossip in an organized manner. They were very decisive and confident in their actions. ”

"Now that Dzerzhinsky is no longer alive, the fine traditions of the 'Cheka' are a thing of the past. At that time, the ideas of the revolution guided all their actions, made them ruthless against the enemy, dealt with all kinds of counter-revolutions, and defended the country. So the 'Cheka' institutions are given a special trust. Enjoy special honor, prestige and respect. And now, the apparatus of the so-called 'NKVD' is, for the majority of its people, a degenerate organization of unprincipled, corrupt, materially satisfied officials. In order to satisfy Stalin's pathological skepticism and vindictive **, in pursuit of medals and honors, they took advantage of the original prestige of the 'Cheka' and carried out the most despicable activities. And they don't understand that they are destroying themselves at the same time, because history cannot tolerate the continued existence of the witnesses of despicable deeds. These 'all-powerful institutions' can turn any member of the Central Committee, a member of the Party, into a traitor, a terrorist, an assassin, a spy. If Stalin had doubts about himself, the institutions would have immediately come up with evidence. ”

"Dark clouds hung over the heads of our party. My guiltless head will be connected to thousands of innocent people, because Stalin wants to create an organization, the organization of Bukharin. And this organization does not exist not only today, but also in the seven years when there has been no disagreement between me and the party, and even in the era of the right-leaning opposition, it has never existed. I don't know anything about the secret organization of Lyukyin and Ugranov. Together with Rykov and Tomsky, I openly stated our point of view. ”

"I have been in the party since I was 18 years old, and the purpose of my life has always been to fight for the interests of the working class and for the victory of socialism, and Pravda, a newspaper with a sacred name, has carried on the will of Stalin and published vile and shameless lies, what do I say Nikolai? Bukharin, an attempt to destroy the gains of the October Revolution and restore capitalism. This is an unheard-of and shameless lie. This lie, in its meanness, in its irresponsibility to the people, can only be equated with a lie such as: Now discovered, Nikolai? All his life, the Romanovs (referring to Tsar Nicholas II) fought against capitalism, the monarchy, and for the realization of the proletarian revolution. ”

"If I have made mistakes more than once in the method of building social favoritism, I hope that future generations will not criticize me harshly than Vladimir? Ilyich. For the first time, we are moving towards a common goal, on a path that no one has ever taken. It was a different era, and so were the fashions. At that time, Pravda had a debate column, and everyone was arguing, looking for a way, no matter how different their views were, after the argument, everyone would reconcile and move forward together. ”

"I appeal to the party leaders of the next generation! The mission entrusted to you by history is to unravel the monstrous mess of all sorts of crimes, which in these terrible days is growing bigger and bigger, burning like a flame and strangulating our Party. ”

"I appeal to all party members! In these probably last days of my life, I was convinced that the filth of history would inevitably be washed away from my head sooner or later through the filter of history. I have never been a traitor, and if it were for Lenin's life, I would have given my life unwaveringly. I loved Kirov and did nothing against Stalin. I ask the new, young and honest generation of party leaders to one day read out this letter of mine at the party plenum, declaring me innocent and reinstating my party membership. ”

"Comrades, you must know that on the high banner of the victorious march of communism, there is also a drop of my blood sprinkled!"

Yang Shuoming finished reading the letter, put it back in the envelope, and threw it on the table.

"How did you get him?" Yang Shuoming asked, "It's not easy, right?" ”

"Yes, we've done a lot of work ahead of time." Zhou Guansheng smiled and said, "Fortunately, get him out, the price is not too big." However, we don't yet know if he is worth the price we have to pay. ”

"Why do you say that?" Yang Shuoming's eyebrows raised and asked.

"This man did not intend to oppose the Russian Revolution." Zhou Guansheng said, "I'm afraid we can't use his power to influence Russia." ”

"That's what you think, it's normal." Yang Shuoming smiled and said, "This person will be useful to us, but not now, so we don't need him to do anything now." ”

"Don't do anything with him......" Zhou Guansheng was stunned at first, but he seemed to understand immediately, he looked at Yang Shuoming thoughtfully, waiting for the answer to be revealed.

"What I mean is that now we'd better not interfere with what this 'Red Tsar' is doing." Yang Shuoming was very satisfied with the reaction of this subordinate, he nodded, and said, "Let him stick to the wrong path and bring himself down, it will save us more strength." ”

"Then we'll let him go further and further down the wrong path." Zhou Guansheng said that at this time, he already had a specific idea in his heart.

Moscow, Kremlin.

"Are you sure that this guy Bukharin is in China, and not went to Mexico like Trotsky?" Stalin looked at a group of subordinates, including Yezhov, with a gloomy face, and asked.

"Yes, Comrade Stalin." Yezhov felt that his shirt was soaked, and the cold sweat stuck to his back, which was very uncomfortable, but at this time, the fear in his heart had overwhelmed everything.

"Bukharin has shown by his actions that he betrayed the revolution." Yagoda said from the side.

"What are you going to do to punish this traitor?" Stalin asked.

"We will take him back to Moscow and let this traitor be judged by the people." Yezhov almost didn't think about it, and he couldn't wait to say what he wanted to do.

"Good. Act now, and I hope to see this traitor put on trial in the shortest possible time. To Yezhov's surprise, Stalin was not angry at this time, he just waved his hand and signaled that Yezhov and the others could go.

When the Great Leader was left in the office, Stalin lit his pipe and sat down in his chair, as if he had completely forgotten about Bukharin's defection and the unhappiness caused by Yezhov's and others' disadvantages.

As the leader of the world's first socialist-benevolent state, moodiness was Stalin's strength, because no one else would know what was really going on in his heart.

Stalin took two puffs of his cigarette, picked up the documents on his desk and looked at them, and this time he was no longer looking at the reports on the rebels, but at the blueprints of the new tank.

If the Kremlin staff were present at this time, they would have been amazed at the great leader's leapfrog mentality, but for Stalin himself, tanks were more important than Bukharin.

During the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union provided the Spanish Republic [***] with a large number of tank vehicles and corresponding volunteers, but did not receive good results. The war exposed the weak armor of the "T-26" and "BT" tanks, which were heavily equipped by the Soviet Union, and these two tanks were very vulnerable to fire and burn after being hit, especially in the Battle of Elbo in October 1937, in which the Soviet-made tanks of the Republic [***] were almost wiped out, after which the Soviet Union's tank aid to the Spanish Republic was drastically reduced. However, the Soviet Red Army was unable to digest and study the valuable tactical lessons of the Spanish Civil War in time. Since Kirov's assassination in 1934, Europe's largest army has been in the midst of a "Great Purge". From 1937 onwards, with the execution of Tukhachevsky, the storm of the Great Purge struck at the very essence of the Soviet Red Army's armored tank corps, with a considerable number of officers systematically trained in military affairs executed or arrested, and the panzer units were filled with new officers who were indifferent, inexperienced, and even incompetent about the future of the Red Army tank corps. However, Soviet tank engineers learned the technical lessons of the Spanish Civil War, and were impressed by the German-made 35/36 37mm anti-tank guns (and "Devil Tanks") that Soviet-made T-26 and BT tanks encountered in Spain, and the Soviets realized that the level of tank protection in their hands was not substantially improved compared to the First World War. In addition, the main Soviet medium tank at that time, the "T-28", was also a non-practical multi-turret tank, which was difficult to provoke in future wars.

In fact, in a series of small-scale "unofficial" clashes on the Siberian border and the Chinese defenders, the officers and men of the Soviet Red Army discovered that the gasoline engines of the "BT" tanks were extremely flammable, and that the entire vehicle would burst into fire soon after being hit by Chinese artillery shells, mines, Molotov cocktails and even infantry firearms. In this regard, the relevant departments of the USSR listed three plans for new tanks. First of all, it was intended to replace the "T-28" medium tank, and the "Project 115" was developed by the Design Bureau of the "Prototype Design Machinery Bureau" in Leningrad, which was planned to design a tank weighing 32 tons and reinforced armor to 50 mm, but the proposal was rejected because it still pursued a complex multi-turret structure with one main turret (76.2 mm gun) and two machine gun turrets. The second and first Soviet tank to achieve "armor that cannot be penetrated by anti-tank shells" was the "Project 111", which was designed to have a combat weight of 32 tons, but with a single-turret design, with a 45 mm gun mounted on the turret and armor raised to 60 mm, but the car did not continue to develop after the completion of the prototype.

The third and most successful prototype was the "135 Project" of the Kharkov Steam Locomotive Plant Design Bureau. The full name of the Kharkiv Steam Locomotive Plant is "International Communalist Kharkiv Steam Locomotive Plant (Plant No. 183)". However, the "135 Project" was not made according to the policy of "guaranteeing protection" as the engineers wanted, but a light tank with an armor thickness of only 20 mm and the internal designation "A-20" developed by the factory to update the "BT" tank. In order to improve the "BT" tank, the A. Filosov design group of the Kharkov Steam Locomotive Plant began to study the "111 Project" and "115 Project" long before it. The design team completed two experimental models, the BT-SV/2 and the BT-IS. The BT-SV/2, as the forerunner and predecessor of the A-20, also had armor only 25 mm thick. However, the BT-SV/2 did not rely solely on the thickness of the armor to achieve protection, the design team designed the hull side and turret armor in an inclined configuration, and the large inclination angle was used to increase the protection capability in disguise, although this caused a shortage of internal volume, but compared with this shortcoming, the survivability of the crew was significantly improved. However, the project was shelved because the members of the design team, including the chief engineer, A. Filosov, were arrested by the Soviet authorities on trumped-up charges.

(To be continued)