Li Xiaofeng's tough opposition not only made Litvinov a little confused, but in fact Lenin was also a little surprised. Calling someone over today to talk about the issue of carrier-based aircraft was actually at the behest of Lenin. Litvinov belonged to the pro-British and American faction in the party, but he really was not the kind of diplomat who knelt and licked foreign countries in the later Celestial Empire's sales department, on the contrary, Litvinov's diplomatic posture has always been quite tough, and what he is best at is to force his opponent to bow his head with an aggressive posture.

It can be seen from this that Li Xiaofeng's claim that Litvinov betrayed the country is untenable, but in fact this is more like Li Xiaofeng satirizing Litvinov, meaning nothing more than asking: "Comrade Maxim, haven't you always been strong?" Why did you choose to kneel and lick this time? ”

Why did Litvinov kneel and lick? It's really that he can't lick without kneeling, he can be tough externally, but internally, especially when facing Lenin, his small waist really can't stand up.

Lenin had called him over abruptly and asked him about the US government's air tender, and when he heard that American carrier-based fighters could be introduced, his mentor was tempted. Because he was really dissatisfied with the previous development plan of the Military Commission on carrier-based fighters, and believed that it was really uneconomical to make a big move for the sake of such a small demand.

Although the economic conditions of the Soviet Union have improved in recent years, there are still many places where money is needed, and to put it bluntly, everywhere is reaching out to him, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, according to Lenin's ideas, if you can save a little, you can save a little!

It was much more economical to import finished products from the United States than to launch three or four new fighter production lines, so Lenin was ready to save this small amount of money. However, the problem is that the development of carrier-based aircraft is a collective decision made by the Central Military Commission, and it is a matter for the Central Military Commission, and Lenin, who had previously emphasized democratic centralism, was not easy to go back on.

So the mentor came up with a solution. Since it is not appropriate to directly overturn the resolution of the Military Commission. Let's do it around the bush. Wouldn't it be nice to have Litvinov come up with a more economical alternative?

Of course, Lenin also knew that in order to make his plan work, Li Xiaofeng had to do a good job here, and as a promoter of naval aviation, someone was not so easy to talk about on this issue. At the time, however, Lenin was more confident that he would come forward and offer a cheap alternative. Someone should accept it with interest.

However, the reality gave Lenin a mouthful, and someone rejected his proposal very forcefully and even almost unreasonably, not only refusing, but also directly labeling Litvinov, who "proposed" the construction of a traitor.

Lenin was upset: "Comrade Andrey, what kind of attitude do you have, what do you mean by betraying the country?" The work of Comrade Maxim in the Politburo is highly appreciated, and you are attacking your own comrades, you know? ”

Lenin's tone was hard, he thought it would sober someone up a bit, but Lenin was disappointed. Because Li Xiaofeng didn't mean to be soft at all, he directly pushed Lenin back: "I'm telling the truth." This kind of building is not as good as buying and buying, and it is better to rent than to build yì, which is equivalent to selling the country. If the Politburo agrees with this traitorous construction, then the Politburo is betraying the country, and if Comrade Lenin agrees with this opinion, then you are betraying the national interests of the USSR to pander to US imperialism! ”

Lenin was stunned, when was the last time someone had confronted him so bluntly? Maybe it was just on the way back to China in 1917. It's been more than ten years, and someone has once again confronted and ridiculed him in person! For a moment Lenin was stunned.

Don't say that Lenin was stunned, even Litvinov was dumbfounded, although he had previously served as deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Litvinov did not have a strong sense of existence in the party, and now he is not even an alternate member of the Central Committee, and he does not know much about the real situation of the struggle within the party. This kind of thing of a member of the Central Committee and the Politburo standing up for a bull is really unheard of.

"You must oppose the Politburo's resolution!" Lenin was also a little on fire.

But Li Xiaofeng was even more popular than him, and he pushed back: "The Politburo doesn't have any resolution on this, this is just your personal construction, please don't put your personal will above the organization!" ”

Lenin was almost furious, and he really had the intention of standing up and slapping the mouth of a certain immortal, but after a while, his anger slowly subsided, but looking at Li Xiaofeng's eyes was still not good.

After a while, Lenin said: "The country's economy is not rich, and in some unnecessary expenditure items, it is better to save a little!" ”

The tutor's meaning is very clear, that is, to tell Li Xiaofeng bluntly that he doesn't want to give this money. The problem is that Li Xiaofeng did not agree, and he even asked rhetorically: "The country's economy is not rich, but national defense construction is not a project that can be omitted and ignored, and the money that should be spent in this area must be spent!" ”

Lenin took a deep breath, and he was really angry, because someone meant it very clearly, almost bluntly telling him: "This money must be spent!" ”

"Why?" Lenin almost came out of his teeth, and the meaning of it made Litvinov, who was playing soy sauce on the side, shiver.

But Li Xiaofeng still explained calmly, like no one else: "Aviation forces are in an important position in the future planning of the Red Army, and the Politburo and the People's Commissariat have more than once emphasized the need to build a powerful air force. But building a strong air force is not just lip service, and what kind of support is it without policy and financial support? ”

Without waiting for Lenin to speak, Li Xiaofeng continued: "At first glance, it seems that four new models and four production lines are not cost-effective for the needs of several hundred aircraft. But in the long run, this will fill many of our gaps in the aviation industry. In the long run, such an investment is not excessive, and at the current pace of development of the aviation industry, all combat aircraft will face another replacement around 1938, and will we be able to solve the problem by buying it this time? ”

"The development of the aviation industry based on the country can not become an empty word, the aviation industry is now in urgent need of investment, need to catch up with the world's advanced level of industry, if you do not invest now, the future will be thrown very far by the imperialist countries, at that time I am afraid that I want to catch up can not catch up!"

Finally, Li Xiaofeng asked rhetorically: "The aviation industry is the highest priority national project, and there is no one." And now you refuse to invest in order to save a few small bucks. What is this not a traitor, not a sinner? ”

Lenin was somewhat speechless. Someone's top hair was buttoned up, and even he couldn't stand it a little. However, Lenin still felt that the aviation industry was an aviation industry, and the naval carrier-based aircraft project was a different matter and could not be confused.

"How can this be a conflation?" Li Xiaofeng asked rhetorically, "Is the return on our investment in the carrier-based aircraft project just trapped in the field of carrier-based aircraft, and can't it be used for other related projects?" Moreover, at present, not only aircraft carriers lack fighter planes, but also naval aviation and air forces are quite short of torpedo planes and dive bombers. Do these shortfalls have to be solved by imports? ”

Lenin stopped talking, pondered the question for a long time, and then he asked: "Can the torpedo machines and dive bombers used by aircraft carriers be used by the Air Force?" ”

"It's not cost-effective to use it directly," Li Xiaofeng explained, "but it is completely possible to solve the problem with two sub-models on one project, and for the Air Force, it can be a model that dismantles the wing folding equipment and reduces the structural strength of the fuselage, and I think it is still very realistic to achieve about 70% generalization." ”

Lenin asked again: "And how many aircraft are expected to be needed for the entire project, including the number of purchases by the Air Force?" ”

Li Xiaofeng hurriedly said: "It will not be less than 1,200, and there is a great possibility that it will even reach 2,000 or 3,000." ”

Lenin pondered for quite some time. Only then did he stare at someone and say, "Comrade Andrei, your attitude today makes me very unhappy. But since you're work-based, and there's a certain amount of truth to your construction, I won't bother with you. When I go back, make a detailed description of the whole project and submit it to me for review! ”

Li Xiaofeng was a little happy and said, "Then you agreed?" ”

"Not completely agreed!" Lenin snorted, "I can agree with the projects of carrier-based fighters, torpedo planes and dive bombers that you insist on, but forget about the project of water reconnaissance aircraft, this demand is too small, so let's purchase it directly from abroad!" ”

Although the demand for carrier-based water reconnaissance aircraft is not small, the corresponding technical requirements are not so high, and it can still be done with the capabilities of the Soviet Union.

Of course, Li Xiaofeng actually took it for granted on this point, in fact, the demand for carrier-based water reconnaissance aircraft is not small, and almost 300 Be-2 aircraft have been produced in history. And with the technical strength of the Soviet Union at that time, it was really a problem to get a good seaplane. For example, the above-mentioned Be-2, this aircraft is actually quite a problem, and it has not even passed the guò type test, and its engine maintenance and water taxi stability have quite big problems, and there is no way to solve them. But who made the carrier-based water reconnaissance aircraft that the Soviet Union did not publish at that time? I can only make a living with other -2.

From this point of view, Lenin's insistence on importing carrier-based maritime reconnaissance aircraft was not a bad thing, but a good thing. In 1935, when the U.S. Navy had just selected Curtis's SOC-1 as a carrier-based water reconnaissance and observation aircraft, the Red Navy also submitted an order for 30 aircraft, and later purchased nearly 100 SOC-3s, until the Be-4 entered service, ending the history of using foreign seaplanes.

Of course, Lenin was not entirely easy to speak, and at the end he also put forward a request: "You have no problem developing carrier-based fighters, torpedo planes and dive bombers based on China, but the prototypes of these three projects must be compared with the same model selected by the US government, and if the performance of domestic development is lower than that of foreign countries, then this project must be discontinued!" As the main person in charge of domestic R&D, we must also take responsibility for this! ”

Li Xiaofeng sighed in his heart, and sure enough, if he wanted to fight with his mentor, he would definitely have to pay the price. The tutor's careful eyes came up, and he would definitely give you small shoes to wear, and now Li Xiaofeng couldn't regret it too late, so he could only agree to it.

There may be comrades who want to say, Li Xiaofeng, you are brain-dead, you have nothing to play with your mentor, what kind of personality do you have, and you are still a bull, I don't know that people are about to retire and are in a state of endocrine disorder? Isn't this death?

Not to mention, Li Xiaofeng is not dead, the reason why he suddenly chose to fight with his mentor is actually a temptation. According to the consensus reached by Xiao Si and Stalin, in the next period of time they will unite to fight for the initiative. Of course, the so-called struggle for the initiative is actually a struggle for power.

However, both Sverdlov and Stalin actually have a little bottom in their hearts. What if I make the tutor unhappy or even angry? In case misfortune is self-defeating. Isn't there no place to cry?

Therefore, it is necessary to explore the bottom line of the mentor. Let's see what Cheng dù can be accepted by his old man. How do you get to the bottom? Naturally, it could not have been Stalin and Sverdlov who rolled up their sleeves and went into battle in person, so it was not to get to the bottom but to really break the net.

The matter of exploring the bottom can naturally only be done by the younger brother below, and the identity of this little brother cannot be too low, and if it is low, it will not achieve the purpose of temptation. Stalin, for his part, thought about it and finally sent Ordzhonikidze to get to the bottom of it, ready to find an excuse to disgust his mentor in terms of economic construction.

In fact, it was not Ordzhonikidze's turn to do this job, and now the number two person in the Stalin department is Shao Wumian, and the problem is that Shao Wumian just ate a lot of money because of the Lysenko incident some time ago. was taught a lesson, and letting him commit a crime against the wind was really sending him to death.

In the end, Stalin had to let Ordzhonikidze come out, who made the old Olympics old enough and his status was quite high, especially his relationship with Lenin was quite good. Otherwise, you can't let Mikoyan, Zhdanov and Kirov go, right? The qualifications of these three are really not enough, and the tutor has no feelings for them, so he can crush them in minutes.

And Xiao Si chose a certain immortal, the status of a certain immortal is high enough, and more importantly, his relationship with Lenin is not bad, even if he disgusts the mentor, it will not cause very strict consequences. It's a big deal, relying on the young, thick-skinned, coquettish and cute to get through.

So did the test come out of the way?

There is a result, after this temptation. Li Xiaofeng basically figured out Lenin's attitude, the mentor is really ready to retire, and he is really ready to respect the collective decision, as long as Sverdlov and Stalin are not particularly excessive, he can tolerate it. Otherwise, I will criticize someone's stinky mouth today for a year and a half.

In fact, Stalin's side came to a similar conclusion after the temptation, but this does not mean that the temptation is over, in fact, the temptation is deepened step by step, and then Stalin and Xiao Si will continue to send people to knock on the side, and constantly use some small questions to test the mentor, until the mentor can no longer bear it.

However, this also means that it is relatively long, and to put it mildly, it can take several months or even half a year, during which time Lenin will have enough headaches. However, for the time being, this has nothing to do with Li Xiaofeng, and it will take quite a while for him to test it next time, and he still has too much work to do during this period of time.

For example, for the carrier-based aircraft project, Polikarpov took over the fighter project, but the remaining torpedo machine and dive bomber projects did not have a suitable chief designer. The more experienced Tupolev was busy with the project of new twin-engine and four-engine bombers, and did not have any extra energy.

In desperation, Li Xiaofeng had no choice but to choose someone else, the chief designer of the Central Design Bureau of the Soviet Union at that time was Ilyushin, and the masterpiece Il-2 in history was very successful. Although the Il-2 is an attack aircraft, not a purebred dive bomber, there are similarities in the past, and it should not be too difficult for Ilyushin to build a dive bomber.

However, what Li Xiaofeng didn't expect was that there was another designer who was interested in this project at that time, and Petlyakov took the initiative to ask Ying to participate in the design. The name Petriyakov may not be well known to many comrades, in fact, this was also a famous aviation expert at that time, and his masterpiece was the Pe-2 dive bomber (Pe-2 is a halfway dive bomber, and its prototype was originally a high-altitude and high-speed fighter), but unfortunately, this duke died in a plane crash too early, and his reputation in World War II and after World War II was not loud.

Petriyakov's level is unquestionable, and it is good for him to compete with Ilyushin, after all, Lenin's hard indicators are very high. And the historical halfway monk Pe-2 is still good in addition to being easy to bounce when landing. With him and Ilyushin, it is equivalent to double insurance.

The designers of the dive bomber solved it, but who to go to the torpedo machine? Most of the Soviet designers were so busy that they didn't have time to take care of any torpedo projects. Just when Li Xiaofeng was at a loss, Polikarpov recommended a candidate to him, the Italian aircraft designer Roberto Brown. Bartini.

Please note Roberto. Batini was born in Rijeka, a city that belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire before World War I, Italy after World War I, Yugoslavia after World War II, and finally Croatia after Yugoslavia.

In other words, his identity as an Italian has to be put in quotation marks, in fact, after graduating from the Milan School of Engineering, because of Musonini's coming to power, fascist Italy was very repulsive to the Communist Party, and the young communist Bartini (born in 1897) went directly to the Soviet Union. The prototype of the Ye-2 bomber in World War II was actually designed by him.

It should be said that Bartini was still very talented, and in 1933 he had just designed the Stal-6 (Steel-6) all-steel fighter, which reached a speed of 420 km/h, setting a record for flight speed at the time. It's just that Stalin never liked him very much as a foreigner, so his talent could not be used.

And now, with Polikarpov's recommendation, Li Xiaofeng decided to give Bartini a chance, maybe this young man can create a zào miracle? (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you Pig Chic 2, Schistosoma parasite, Yushiren, hzwangdd and Comrade Juventus!