(The first update, today's three watches, each update is 3,000 words.) ）

In mid-January 1992, the political situation in Moscow brought another small "earthquake", and Comrade Vladimir, who was privately called Yanayev's successor, assumed the post of deputy minister of internal affairs. As the former executive organization of the Great Purge of the Soviet Union, the gloomy top of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has welcomed a young and energetic newcomer, making everyone look forward to what Putin will do in this post. After all, no one could doubt his ability, because the young deputy minister of the interior had previously been a formidable KGB.

This marked the beginning of the gradual infiltration of Yanayev's re-established forces into the Moscow hierarchy, and he had Surkov as the vanguard in the arms of public opinion. In terms of internal control, he had Putin in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the most powerful shield, and in the most profitable cash cow of the Soviet Union, arms sales, he had Chemezov as a money bag. Even in the army, some generals who had been suppressed before and are now being repromoted, such as Ogarkov, are grateful to Yanayev.

Yanayev's inner plan was only to let Putin know more about how the violent machinery of the Soviet Union maintained its internal rule, so that he would know whether to throw himself into a Kazan psychiatric hospital or a Gulag concentration camp, or to alternate exile in the two places if he encountered counter-revolutionaries like Solzhenitsyn or Yeltsin in the future.

January 14 was not destined to be an ordinary day, because on this day Yanayev urgently summoned Comrades Vladimir Putin, Boris Pugo, and the chairman of the KGB, Comrade Kryuchkov. The three comrades in charge of maintaining internal security are together, and the meaning inside is a little unpredictable.

Outside the Kremlin is a stormy and snowy day, with thick doors insulating the temperature inside and the cold of the icy field, the crackling sound of burning charcoal in the stove, and the splashing of sparks bringing spring warmth to the sealed space. For the three communist comrades sitting on the sofa, however, the silence was no different from the cold outside.

The atmosphere was a little heavy, and Yanayev patiently flipped through a report, as if he had no intention of getting up and talking to the three of them. Putin was a little embarrassed, and from time to time touched his nose and skimmed the two old comrades beside him.

After all, Kryuchkov and Pugo are old comrades who have been in and out of the Kremlin for many years, showing an unusual strength and composure, and sitting upright in an orderly manner. It's just that the two occasionally look at each other and tell each other that they don't know what's going on. Although they are the same Politburo comrades as Yanayev, it is becoming more and more difficult for them to guess the thoughts of this man who showed thunderous methods in the August 19 incident.

After a long time, Yanayev closed the report, stretched his neck, raised his head to look at the three comrades who were almost looking up at the ceiling in a daze, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting for a long time." ”

Kryuchkov just wanted to say something polite, but was interrupted by Yanayev suddenly getting up from his seat, he picked up the red three-point document in his hand, handed it to the three people, Kryuchkov, Putin and Pugo respectfully accepted the document, and before Yanayev opened it, he introduced them to the origin of these documents.

"This is a propaganda newspaper article privately published by the former editor-in-chief of the Moscow News, Yakovlev, and the former editor-in-chief of the Spark magazine, Korodich, and everyone knows that after the martial law in Moscow we revoked the distribution rights of other so-called free presses, and now these public intellectuals seem to be unwilling to be lonely and continue to advocate their theories.

Yanayev cleared his throat and read directly into the news in the document, "The pursuit of freedom, equality, human rights is the birthright of everyone. However, the evil Soviet Union and the evil communism are like a stubborn monster that hinders the progress of all mankind. And use the so-called noble ideas they brainwash to tell the people they rule that the United States is wrong, the Western world is degenerate, and everything seems so ridiculous. The most hateful thing is that they conceal the truth and deprive the masses of the right to know the truth, and here we will profoundly expose the dark and dark ...... of the Soviets."

Yanayev also read several examples cited in the newspaper, such as the Gulag concentration camp, such as the Katyn Forest, such as the Tukhachevsky incident, such as the Kazan prison, and Pugo was terrified when he heard it, and the more Yanayev read it, the more he confirmed his conjecture that General Secretary Yanayev was finally going to attack those democratic intellectuals.

"General Secretary Yanayev, are you ready to do something to the intellectuals? Isn't it a bit inappropriate to do this now, after all, our political situation is not very stable. When Yanayev finished reading, Pugo asked bluntly.

Pugo, who was in charge of the political purge, became a bit of a when facing public intellectuals, after all, Gorbachev had opened up the freedom of public opinion for so many years, and if he wanted to return to the old era, he had to take into account the mood of the people.

"Yes, that's why I'm calling you over." However, Yanayev deliberately snorted coldly and continued, "But I don't want to hear that Comrade Pugo goes against the will of the Politburo of the Party Central Committee on this important issue. ”

Yanayev elevates his personal statement to the will of the Party Central Committee, which is already a proper symbol of a dictator. But in order to re-establish the country, he had to accept the role of a dictatorial tyrant.

"No, I didn't mean that, I'm just saying that if things get out of hand, the situation will deteriorate beyond our expectations and control, and Moscow is finally getting through the first winter, and we can't send ourselves to the guillotine of Louis XVI."

Even Kryuchkov advised him on the sidelines, "Maybe we can attack these people when we are more stable, but now is still a time of turmoil, and we who have just calmed down the situation in Georgia are not ready to put Russia in a crisis situation." ”

"Listen to me, two comrades." Yanayev interrupted Kryuchkov and Pugo's exhortation, explaining to them what he was doing, "I don't want to just grab those people and throw them in prison. I just want to use another means to make the public intellectuals completely enemies of the whole people, so that when they are arrested, whether it is a mountain of ironclad facts or a lie that we have fabricated, it will not arouse the disgust of the people. ”

"By what means?" Listening to Yanayev's words, Kryuchkov and Pugo asked almost in unison.

"Prohibition." Yanayev said, "It should be said that the public intellectuals jointly signed a letter to enforce the prohibition of alcohol." ”

There is a saying circulating in this Siberian land that the overthrow of the regime that ruled the Russian people was often accompanied by the birth of Prohibition. In 1914 Tsar Nicholas II promulgated the prohibition of alcohol, which ended after the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty in the October Revolution of 1917. In 1985 Gorbachev again enacted a ban on alcohol, but six years later the Soviet Union completely withdrew from the land.

How could the alcoholic Slavic people tolerate the fate of not having alcoholic beverages, and the public intellectuals jointly signed a ban on alcohol, which can be said to be the public enemy of the people.

"But they are not fools, how could they voluntarily and consciously sign a letter to enforce the prohibition of alcohol?" Putin asked with some puzzlement.

"Comrade Putin is right, General Secretary Yanayev. How could they be so stupid as to fall into such a trap. Kryuchkov did not agree with the plan given by Yanayev.

Of course not, these so-called intellectuals are nothing more than a bunch of cunning foxes who use the slogan of democracy as political capital or as a means of profit. But let's not forget that now only the central government has the right to publish newspapers and periodicals in the whole country. Yanayev smiled sinisterly, "Since intellectuals like to spread rumors to attack state power, then we can also spread rumors to discredit these people." Joint lettering? We can fabricate even the content of the book. Let's not forget that now public opinion is on our side, and if we say what the intellectuals say, the people will of course believe what the intellectuals say. Oh, and we're going to call them 'noble acts of national heroism.'" ”

"These blind listeners to others are the most pitiful and ignorant of people." Putin shook his head helplessly.

"I understand that the reputation of the so-called public intellectuals will become notorious among the people who love alcohol, and they want to clarify themselves in the newspapers, but they are helpless because we have the right to speak, and their reputation will be completely rotten because they have nowhere to clarify. Those who wield the sword would die by the sword, and they would never have imagined that the rumors used against the government would one day be fulfilled upon them. ”

Pugo almost smiled and clapped his hands to say this, not expecting that the offensive of defusing public opinion could be so easy.

"When the time comes, we will make public the case of their collusion with foreign funding organizations, and it would be better to find out the problems with the way these people live, and we will not mention that the reason for sending him to the 'new gulag' is a matter of public opinion, but to expose to the general public what kind of people who propagate liberalism are."

There is no more murder than the heart, and what Yanayev did was the most cruel heart. When you know that the freedom and democracy that the intellectuals preach to you are nothing more than dirty water in a ditch filled with maggots and garbage, you wonder if you can fall on your knees by the Ganges like the people of India, pick up a handful of salmonella and drink it with great vigour.

"Fighters for democracy, no one knows your exploits, and your stupidity lives on! Dry this bowl of Ganges water and become an Indian in the next life. ”