On the third floor of the Kremlin's Senate-Council, there is a conference room for political-political-bureau-councillors, which was used only for political-political-bureaucratic meetings in the days of Go@Erba@Jo@f. Now, Yanayev has turned the conference room into a place for dedicated, private meetings. Although, in the eyes of some, this does not conform to the so-called traditional regulations. But no one objected, because the CPSU was such a strange place, and the leaders had the absolute right to speak in certain innocuous aspects.

Present at the secret meeting were Chairman of the Council of Ministers Ryzhkov, Prime Minister Pavlov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia - Chronicle Polozkov, and First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee - Chronicle Prokofiev, two of whom were re-elected from the 28th Congress and served as new members of the Political-Political=Bureau. Even Pavlov, Ryzhkov, and even Yanayev himself were the new members elected at the XXIX Congress.

Sitting in the conference room were either the powerful figures of Russia, or the important leaders of the entire CPSU government departments. Although Ryzhkov took away half of Pavlov's power, it was able to better balance the power between the two men, avoiding the danger of a monopoly and the recurrence of the ambitious chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1953.

Checks and balances and centralization of power will always be important and eternal in the political-political system of the Soviet Union.

Yanayev brought these people together not on a whim, he wanted to know what kind of results his reforms would have. After August 1991, Ryzhkov, who was the Minister of Economy, began to use his own policy tools in contrast to Gor-Bachev's unrealistic mess. Ryzhkov seemed to be much more steady. The first is to stabilize the volatility of the semi-open market. The government regains control over prices. Have an absolute say in important materials, rather than handing over all adjustments to the so-called invisible hands. After stabilizing the market, Ryzhkov began a policy of gradual deregulation, leaving a small part of the goods to the market to manage, and then slowly expanding the scope.

"We got out of the nightmare of negative economic growth in 1992, when the economy grew at 1.1 percent. Compared to the 1990 and 1991 recessions of 1.3 percent, this is not easy. A great deal of credit goes to President Yanayev's general guidelines and policies. Ryzhkov read the recent data report seriously, and as a former economy minister, he has a paranoid sensitivity to numbers.

"What about the social aspect? Comrades Prokofiev and Polozkov. I'd like to hear your thoughts. "The end result of political instability is social instability, so Yanayev, who lives within the walls, needs to find out what is going on outside through other people.

"In 1991, the number of security incidents in Moscow reached an all-time high, with 456 incidents in just one year, not counting political demonstrations such as marches. After 1992, there was a decline, with only 389 incidents, and this year, the number of public security incidents dropped again, with only 311 public order incidents. ”

Hearing Prokofiev's answer, Yanayev was finally in a better mood than before, thinking of the ignorant people standing in the square on August 19, he had a headache, after the iron-blooded suppression and the disclosure of the truth. Yeltsin's supporters almost disappeared in Moscow, and now freedom and democracy have become synonymous with dirty footwraps in the Soviet Union. The vast majority of people no longer identify with these dirty ideas mixed with policies of peaceful evolution.

"The economic environment in Russia is also much better than before, mainly because the economic growth is showing a good trend, and in 1993 it was 150 percent higher than the previous year. The current economic growth rate has changed from negative growth to 1.4%. Polotkov replied.

"Then Comrade Pavlov and Ryzhkov, the economic work of the USSR still has to be delivered to you. The economy of the Soviet Union has recovered, but it is still far from reaching its previous heyday. Yanayev tactfully expressed the hope that they would do their best to make the Soviet economy better.

"I also know that there are still many difficulties, and I hope that everyone here will be considerate of us, because we have done our best." Speaking of which, Yanayev also took a special look at Polozkov, who was the first internal force to start splitting at the beginning, and now he hopes that Polozkov can contain the political catastrophe that has spread from Russia itself to the entire member states.

Everyone nodded in unison, indicating that they would respect General Secretary Yanayev's decision. But Yanayev himself alone knows how difficult it was to get the economy of the USSR one step further. Almost every step is a tightrope walk on a cliff, and if you are not careful, you will be wiped out.

After this small secret meeting broke up, Yanayev asked Pavlov to stay for a while, and he still had some things to explain to Pavlov. Yanayev closed the heavy curtains of the conference room, and the light of the crystal lamp came out of the room, and there were only two silent men.

"I would like to know what you think recently, Comrade Pavlov." Yanayev also did not like to beat around the bush, and said directly and clearly, "Especially after Ryzhkov became the chairman of the Council of Ministers, I would like to know how your work is going?" ”

Yanayev also asked in disguise whether you are dissatisfied with Ryzhkov's snatching of your rights? In fact, the chairman of the Council of Ministers who became independent of Yanayev has much less power than before, and its power is only included in the realm of economy and people's livelihood, and other major powers are still tightly held in Pavlov's hands.

"Thank you General Secretary for your concern, my work has been carried out smoothly. Comrade Ryzhkov is also worthy of being a former chairman of the Council of Ministers, and his experience in this area is clearly much better than mine. Of course, if I agree with the General Secretary's approach, I can say yes and respect the General Secretary's decision. ”

Hearing Pavlov's answer, Yanayev's heart finally stabilized, and whether Pavlov said it was sincere or unwilling, he heard an explanation. Even if the other party tries to seize power, he can kick him out of the list of members of the Political and Political Bureau. After all, Yanayev is the one who holds absolute power.

"Very well, Comrade Pavlov, you go and get busy first." Yanayev said.

Pavlov nodded and replied, "If it's nothing, I'll go first, General Secretary Yanayev." ”

"Goodbye, Comrade Pavlov." Yanayev waved goodbye, watching the other person's figure slowly disappear from his sight, at this time he picked up the list of recent work trips, drew a circle on the original itinerary of the trip to the union republics, and then added another work arrangement information.

Inspect the military enterprises in the country and give corresponding guidance on the projects they are working on.

After the Soviet Union laid off a large number of troops and sealed some of the munitions, the rest was sold and sold to third world countries. At this time, the Soviet arms were in a period of scarcity, the old batch had been decommissioned, and the new batch had not yet formed the corresponding combat effectiveness.

Yanayev's move is nothing more than to tell others that although the Soviet Union has given up the arms race and space race with the United States, this does not mean that the Soviet Union's military industry has been stagnant, and what he has to do is to tell others with practical actions that the general secretary has great respect for the Soviet Union's military industrial projects.

After writing this line, Yanayev wrote another sentence on the other side of the memo, which, though only a few letters, contained information that would shock at least half of the Soviet government. After writing it, Yanayev felt that something was wrong and crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. Avoid being discovered in your deepest thoughts.

The note lying in the waste paper basket had a sentence written on it, cutting the number of people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and cutting the rights of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. (To be continued.) )