June 10, 1918. For Li Xiaofeng, it was a day to remember forever, when an immortal made his first formal speech at the enlarged meeting of the Central Committee.

His statement, or rather his report, is more appropriate. He sprinkled more than 10,000 words and discussed in detail the problems that might be encountered in the implementation of the wartime communist policy and the solutions to them. All the Central Committee members and alternate Central Committee members remembered his slightly childish face and his final closing words: "The Bolsheviks will always represent the interests of the working people and always stand with the broad masses of the working people...... At this extremely difficult time, we have to take a more extreme approach to solve difficult practical problems...... But the essence of our policy is not only robbery, but also robbers! ”

Li Xiaofeng's speech caused a sensation in the Central Committee, not only because he was young, but also because he was not even an alternate member of the Central Committee but was able to make an official speech at the Central Committee.

Someone in Vyborg forcefully confronted the Politburo and was given a serious warning, and the members of the Central Committee were very clear, and most of them were waiting to see the joke, thinking that after Zinoviev, Kamenev, Kollentai, and Debinko, there was a new sacrifice on the desk of the Mentor.

In fact, some members of the Central Committee are already thinking about how to criticize Li Xiaofeng, and they have defeated him, and the vacated positions are covetous, so they can put two more efforts into it, so that the mentor can see his excellent performance.

However, things turned a 180-degree turn. Before they could figure out how to criticize. A certain immortal has already stepped onto the stage of the Central Committee. He also expressed some opinions that were different from the spirit of the central authorities. This Nima is too terrifying! What's going on?

Quite a few members of the CPC Central Committee are not sure about the direction, could it be that Comrade Lenin wrote, directed, and acted by himself? Could it be that Comrade Lenin actually had a slight opinion about the policy of war communism? Or would he allow someone to make such a blatant statement?

There was an uproar for a while. The Central Committee, who could not figure out the direction, suspected that Lenin and Trotsky were fighting again, and that the scale was not small. Well, let's take it easy and stay away!

Of course, there are also a small number of people who have sharper eyes and deeper political wisdom, and can see the essence through the fog. For example, Rykov and Bukharin.

"It seems that our young Comrade Andrei will be able to occupy a seat in the Central Committee at the Eighth National Congress next year." Rykov sighed.

Yes. Rykov could not help but lament that although as a left-wing communist he withdrew from the Central Committee, as an old revolutionary, it was not the first time he had entered the Central Committee. As early as May 1905, at the age of 24, at the height of the first revolution, he was elected a member of the Central Committee.

Moreover, there was no Politburo at that time, so it can be said that the members of the Central Committee in those years were actually equivalent to members of the Politburo. And note that Rykov was not elected as an alternate member of the Central Committee, but as a full-fledged member of the Central Committee. back then. He was joined by Lenin, Bogdanov, Krasin, and Postonovsky. As a rising star in the political arena of the year, looking at the upstart who is now in high spirits. How could Rykov not be emotional?

"He's only eighteen, isn't he?" Rykov asked with a smile.

Bukharin nodded, and said specifically: "There is still a month and a half to turn 18 years old." Can only be counted as 17 years old. ”

Rykov smiled again: "Wait for March next year, it will be full." But 18 years old is an unprecedented record, right? ”

"It's not like anything before." Bukharin also sighed, "I'm afraid there is still no one to come." ”

It is true that with the stabilization of the revolutionary situation, it is difficult for a special case like a certain immortal to exist. If you want to enter the Central Committee in the future, you have to make good use of your qualifications.

"None of this matters!" Bukharin suddenly said, "With Andrey. Compared to those suggestions made by Petrovich, his age does not matter at all! ”

Yes, although Bukharin temporarily withdrew from the Central Committee, as the leading elder brother of a faction in the party, he was not ordinarily well-informed. It is difficult for others to hide the inside story of Lu Dao, so he has a deeper understanding of the whole thing.

"Andrey. The proposals put forward by Petrovich are very good, a great addition to the policy of war communism, and very meaningful! For the first time, Bukharin also praised a certain immortal, "especially considering that he is holding his own opinion under the pressure of the Politburo, which is even more difficult." ”

Speaking of this, Bukharin paused and said very seriously: "I have to say that I used to underestimate this too young comrade. He was not the kind of opportunist who came to power by slapping a horse, but he still had a profound study of the revolution and Marxist theory. ”

Rykov also nodded, as the most important opposition in the party, they were not satisfied with the policies pursued by Lenin and Trotsky. Whether it was the previous Brest contract or the current wartime communist policy in full swing, they felt that it was too radical. In the words of a certain immortal, it is simply drinking a donkey to quench your thirst!

In particular, Bukharin, one of the few experts in economics in the party, studied the characteristics of the Russian economy in detail and came to the conclusion that if the policy of war communism was pursued regardless of the force, it would greatly damage the mass base of the party. Workers and peasants alike will fall victim to this policy!

Bukharin sympathized with the proletariat and opposed a policy that ignored robbery in general. But he was so embarrassed that he could not remind the Central Committee that he must be cautious about this!

And now, Li Xiaofeng said what he wanted to say but couldn't say, and his attitude was very clear, which couldn't help but make him overjoyed.

"There are still sober-minded comrades in our party who can speak the truth and speak out about the pros and cons under tremendous pressure. That's great! ”

Rykov also felt good. Because Lenin and Trotsky allowed Li Xiaofeng to make that report at the Central Committee. It can be seen that the Politburo will make corrections on this issue. It's not a complete correction, but it's good to be able to change it a little!

It is true that there is not much change, and a certain immortal still has self-knowledge, and completely repudiates the wartime communist policy, which is looking for death. He was not so capable that it would have been difficult for the Mentor and Trotsky to make such a concession.

"The amount of surplus grain collected must be counted in detail, and solemn guarantees must be made to all the peasant brothers. After the victory of the war, the grain collected will be compensated in full. ”

This sentence was the result of a certain immortal, who had also wanted to preserve the interests of the small craftsmen and save them from nationalization. But apparently, his face was not so great, and on this issue Trotsky did not budge an inch.

In fact, Li Xiaofeng is not satisfied with this supplementary explanation of the surplus grain collection system, which is too general, and the compensation conditions are not generous. You have to pay interest on borrowing money. Grain was forcibly "borrowed" from the peasants, but only returned in full. To put it bluntly, it is still exploiting the peasants.

But for thousands of years, when have the peasants not been exploited? Compared to the situation in history where there was no compensation, it is much better now. Li Xiaofeng could only comfort himself that this was impossible and inevitable, and he had tried his best.

At this enlarged meeting of the Central Committee, the policy of wartime communism was basically adopted, and the concrete implementation was divided into several steps. Before the spring of 1919, if the food problem could not be alleviated, the system of collecting surplus grain would be fully introduced.

Before the onset of the winter of 1918, the decree "On the Organization of the Supply of All Products, Personal Consumer Goods, and Daily Goods to the Population" was fully promoted, replacing private traders with the supply of all foodstuffs, personal consumer goods, and household goods by the state and cooperative organizations. Following the grain monopoly, the state will gradually begin to exercise a state monopoly on sugar, tea, salt, matches, cloth, shoes, soap, and so on.

The system of rationing in kind and the system of labour obligations will also be promoted as soon as possible. It is stipulated that all non-agricultural people must join consumer cooperatives (once called consumer communes), and the cooperatives' distribution stations distribute food and daily necessities according to the type of work.

It is required that all those who are able to work must participate in labor, and that elements of the exploiting class are forced to participate in manual labor. Enforce the principle of "no food if you don't work". The government can recruit citizens to do different social jobs, regardless of their regular job.

Li Xiaofeng can only pray that Ukraine had better settle down quickly and let the surplus grain collection system go down the drain. However, at the moment in Ukraine, on the Don and Volga rivers, the war situation is not so good.

The situation in Ukraine is more complicated, and the forces of all sides are mixed together, which makes Frunze quite a headache, and the central government clearly told him that he does not want a broken Ukraine, so he can only carry out military operations cautiously, and the results are naturally limited.

The situation on the Don and Volga rivers is even more complicated, and Ubolevich is not afraid to destroy this place, on the contrary, the central demand is for him to solve the White Bandit Army in the shortest possible time at all costs and means.

In other words, Ubolevich could let go, but the army below him was not very powerful, although Volgadonsk was recaptured, but the main forces of the White army were let go.

"Intelligence indicates that Denikin's main forces are fleeing in the direction of Verkhan Saar, and they may choose the direction of Elista to escape, and of course it is possible to capture Astrakhan and thus enter Kazakhstan."

Ubolevich pointed at the map and said: "So there is only one choice in front of us, catch up as fast as possible, bite the enemy fiercely, and then destroy them!" ”

In fact, this is all nonsense, and everyone here knows that the original operational plan has basically failed, and the attempt to annihilate the White Army north of the Saar River has failed. The most important thing now is to quickly make a long-distance detour to outflank them, block the front of the White Army, and stop them.

But it's not easy to do this, Denikin is more slippery than a loach, and when he sees that the situation is not right, he runs away, and his decisiveness and determination really make Titerichs and Krasnov, who hesitated in the previous battle, embarrassed, if these two goods had been so active at that time, they would not have been beaten so badly.

"Tsaritsyn's Red Tenth Army must move, pursue in the direction of Elista as fast as possible, and must stop the enemy!"

Ubolevich sighed in his heart, if not for the impossible. He really didn't want to use the Red Tenth Army. But now the main force of the Red Fifth Army is still in Abuja Nerovo. Moreover, it was resolutely blocked by the White Army, and it was difficult to advance an inch; The Red Twelfth Army arrived at Kotelnikovo with difficulty, and they were tossed by Mamontov along the way, and Kotelnikovo was still in the hands of the White Army, and it is quite difficult to say whether they could successfully fight it.

In this case, the only way to do this was to let the Red Tenth Army play. However, Ubolevich still had no confidence in Voroshilov, and especially advised: "Even if the Red Tenth Army pursues to the south, it must pay special attention to the original defensive line. We must not allow the enemy to take advantage of the situation, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable! ”

It should be said that Ubolevich's warnings were not groundless, since the intelligence of the Red Army was not entirely accurate. Denikin's main force was not in Upper Saar, he moved quite quickly, and his main force had already surpassed Upper Saar, appearing in Archan-Zelimen.

Archan-Zelimen, a small city, was a road from Tsaritsyn to Erista, not far west of the city, and according to Denikin's original plan, his troops rushed south along this road. Flee in the direction of Georgia and Azerbaijan.

However, when he arrived in Arshan-Zelimen, he met an unexpected person, Learvin. The beautiful spy brought him four extremely important pieces of information.

Intelligence 1: Heavy rain fell near Elista and the Manech River. The river flooded and became impassable, and traffic was almost completely cut off;

Intelligence 2: Budyonny's cavalry units, which are very active in the Caucasus, take control of Stavropol, and fleeing in the direction of Tbilisi is likely to be intercepted by them, and the risk is not ordinary;

Intelligence 3: The combat effectiveness of the Red Tenth Army was very low, and the reason why they were not allowed to participate in the battle was because there was no confidence in them within the Red Army.

Intelligence 4: The British army and the Iranian army are not ready to withdraw the Don volunteers from the Caspian Sea, and moving to the sea is a dead end!

These four pieces of information undoubtedly poured cold water on Denikin, but also made him see another possibility. Escaping to the south seems to be more auspicious, and it is useless to get closer to the Caspian Sea, it seems that you can only pinch the soft persimmons of the Red Tenth Army, and it seems that there is still more hope?

Of course, Denikin did not fully trust Learwin's intelligence, and he distrusted the British from the bottom of his heart. The reality of the situation left him not many options, and it was not possible to break through to the north anywhere, and to the east of Akhtubinsk was the Rennes Desert of Kazakhstan, and escaping in this direction was a dead end, and even as soon as he revealed that he was going to cross the desert, the troops would immediately disperse.

And going straight north to take Tsaritsyn doesn't seem to be reliable, the Red Tenth Army is killing from these two directions, is it going to collide with them head-on? This is simply self-defeating!

After thinking about it, Denikin's eyes locked on a small city - Chagan Oman. This small city on the lower Volga is too ideal. At some distance from Akhtubinsk, the captured town crossed the Volga River, and there was direct access to the Ural region by rail and road.

If Lierwin's intelligence was accurate, the defenders of the Red Tenth Army there should also be vulnerable. You ask Denikin why not take Akhtubinsk directly? Simple, first of all, Akhtubinsk is too big, there are more defenders, and it is too close to Tsaritsyn. Once entangled, he could be surrounded and eliminated by the Red Army who turned back.

In order to achieve suddenness, in order to preserve the strength as much as possible, Denikin chose the relatively safe Chagan Oman. However, Denikin's choice is more controversial in the history books of later generations, because the commander obviously did not look at whose troops were defending the city, because it was Mironov who defended the city, and it was the heroic and combative Don Mixed Brigade.

Two old rivals who have historically been destined to fight each other are finally coming together, but before the decisive battle between them is about to break out, we need to pay attention to the other person.

It was no surprise that Learvin, the British female spy who was very fond of spoiling trouble, appeared in front of Denikin. As soon as the fighting broke out in Ukraine, she hurried to the Don and Volga river basins. After carefully investigating the situation of the Red Army and the White Army there, she came to a more objective decision - Denikin and the remnants of the Czech Legion had no chance of victory.

She thinks there is only one choice in front of Denikin, hurry up and jump out of this area, or she will die. However, what made her more depressed was that Denikin was dismissive of the British, and did not even obey the command of the provisional government of Ufa, and established himself as king.

Denikin did not want to leave the Don and Volga rivers at all, and even less planned to move closer to Ufa. For the Entente, Denikin's choice undoubtedly annoyed them, this guy was too disobedient and too inattentive to them, especially when they learned that this person had also held Kornilov hostage.

But this force at Denikin's hand was very important, after the crippled Legion, while the Provisional Government of Ufa was still in the Manchurian realm. The Don Volunteer Army was the most reliable force for the Entente bloc that could not directly intervene in Russia for the time being. They categorically would not allow Denikin to be wiped out like this!

Of course, they categorically did not allow Denikin to go on his own way again, so there was Lierwin's line of fire to send intelligence. Those four pieces of information, some true and some false, it is true that the direction of Elista is not easy to walk, but it is by no means to the point of impassability. The Caucasian cavalry of Budyonny did exist, but the combat effectiveness was not as strong as described, and as for the question of retreating from the Caspian Sea, it is true that there was no preparation, but it was not difficult to prepare. In the final analysis, the Entente group just wanted Denikin to obediently go north and move closer to Ufa, so that they could continue to stir up the situation in Russia...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to hzwangdd and Comrade Juventus!