Chapter 1371: The Hesitant Russians
It turns out that the leader who can become a great power does not have a fuel-efficient lamp. Although the Americans showed full sincerity and said that the United States would immediately provide Russia with the first interest-free loan of up to $300 million to help the Russians rebuild their already crippled industry, as long as Russia wished. While the Russians laughed at the Americans' good intentions, they still had a wait-and-see attitude towards further cooperation, and the Russian top brass was also repeatedly weighing the pros and cons of cooperation with the Americans. As the ruler of Russia, Lvov summoned General Kornikov in Moscow to discuss the matter, the former being the liaison between the Russian government and the American government, and the latter being responsible for the relations between Russia and China. Russia needs to choose between the two.
"The Americans want to help us build a complete industrial system, and they need a strong Russia to suppress Germany and contain China. The potential of the French is not as good as ours, after all, the French mainland is too small, and it is too far from China, only Russia is their best choice, and their actions have indeed shown great sincerity, and the first aid of the Americans has set sail. It is estimated that it will reach Murmansk in 2 weeks. Technicians and experts from the United States will also arrive by plane in a week's time. ”
"More importantly, the Americans have assured that Huaxia will not interfere in the cooperation between the United States and Russia, and since we deliberately released the information, Huaxia has not done anything, whether verbally or practically, and they seem to have acquiesced in the United States' support for us. So we don't have to worry about Huaxia at all. And the Germans did not react either. Kornikov said with some excitement.
"So what about the conditions that Huaxia is offering now?" Instead of directly commenting on Kornikov's words, Ivov turned around and asked Trotsky, who was sitting on the other side. In fact, the cooperation with the Chinese military, which had been maintained since before the Iran war, has continued to this day. At present, the number of Russian front-line troops in China has reached 100,000, not including the Russian garrison in Iran. If you include all the military and logistical technicians trained, the total number of armed personnel trained in China in Russia is about 160,000. The main composition of the Russian training units in China was infantry and armored troops, as well as front-line air forces and simple logistics units. With the intensification of training, in the next two years, China will also train 180,000 troops of various kinds in Russia. And it will provide these troops with all kinds of equipment they need.
"The conditions offered by Huaxia have not changed, and they are still training our troops step by step. Then these troops will appear like mercenaries where China needs them. They will feed these troops for their daily attrition. And they will pay the bills according to the performance of these troops, and they will pay the bills in a variety of ways, whether it be food, machinery or equipment, or whatever. "In contrast to Kornikov, Trotsky's words were very brief. It's not very attractive either. If you are an ordinary person, you will definitely think that the American plan is more attractive!
"God has once again put two choices before us, whether to accept the Americans' aid and stand on the side of the Entente, or to continue to keep in touch with Huaxia and be a gunman for Huaxia? It's a dilemma. Li Wufu smiled bitterly. Huaxia's attitude is already very clear, and I think both of them are very clear, so let's analyze the thoughts of the Americans now. And what price do we have to pay after receiving the assistance of the Americans! Wolf's tone was a little stiff. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and when you get more, you lose more! The Americans may indeed want to help Russia become stronger, but there is a premise, and that is that when the war between the Entente and the Central Powers breaks out, we must stand on the side of the Entente! Once again, we will plunge our Motherland into blood and fire! ”
The benefits of the Americans are not taken for nothing! The Americans promised to make Russia strong and to restore Russia's western territories to at least the level they had before World War I. But these are all at the cost of blood for Russia! Especially the land, these must be recaptured by the Russian ** team! It is impossible for the Entente to say that after defeating Germany, the Entente will allow Russia to recreate the western territory before World War I! Russia, as a country that has always been martial, knows it very well. If what military power can't get, then it can't get it at the negotiating table either!
To a certain extent, the United States also uses the Russian ** team as cannon fodder, and what is more excessive than China is that the United States wants Russia to do its best to cooperate with the Entente in the battle! Once the war starts, the two sides will be in a situation where they will not stop fighting! China is only using Russia's human resources, and Russia itself can continue to remain neutral. That's the only difference between the two sides! The Americans seem to give a lot, but they also want a lot, and if they are not careful, Russia may fall into a situation from which it will never recover! The relative strength of Russia today is not as good as it was before World War I, and at least Russia before World War I had the world's largest strategic depth. With a population base of hundreds of millions and a relatively complete industrial system, Russia at that time could build bombers and super-dreadnoughts. And what about Russia now? You can't even build a decent aircraft engine! 1 World War when the Allies solved Russia with one hand, and now the words. I'm afraid that Russia will not be able to enter the field of vision of the Germans, right? I'm afraid that even Austria-Hungary can laugh at the weakness of Russia!
In a word, why should Russia fight with the Allies? Not to mention containment, perhaps the Germans will wipe out the strength that the Russians have worked so hard to accumulate for years with a single blow. At the same time, the Russians must also take into account the reaction of Huaxia, which has nothing to say now, which does not mean that there will be no reaction in the future. Not to mention anything else, once a war breaks out, as long as China makes a little trouble for Russia on the issue of transportation, Russia will not be able to stand it! So in the eyes of Lee-Vov and Trotsky, the support of the Americans was really good. But it's just the moon in the water, you can't see it! The current mentality of the Russians is very similar to what Huaxia thinks, that is, they want to eat the aid of the Americans and avoid the losses caused by the war when the situation is unknown.
"What would happen if we accepted aid and didn't go to war as the Americans wanted?" Suddenly Trotsky asked. His topic is very sharp, a bit of a take the money and don't do anything! If they can receive American aid and wait and see in wartime, if the situation is good, they will go up and join in the fun, if the situation is bad, they will be neutral, if this is the case, the Americans will not have the ability to deal with Russia in wartime, at least in Trotsky's view. "I still think that before the Germans are defeated, it is better for us to be consistent with Huaxia, the Germans are very clear about our thoughts, and the reason why they hold back is to avoid irritating Huaxia. As long as Huaxia does not stand by the side. Then there will be no danger to Russia, and the United States can only add the icing on the cake to us, but will not be able to play the role of charcoal in the snow. Trotsky still thought it safer to rely on China than on the United States.
Although the Americans gave the Russians a big gift, the Russian top brass was still very hesitant about this big gift, and they wanted to eat it. And they don't want to take on the responsibilities involved. It's a pity that the Americans have long figured out how to avoid this. The things they give to the Russians are designed and produced according to strict American standards, and even if Huaxia can produce them, they will not necessarily deliberately imitate American standards for the sake of the Russians, and the price is somewhat large. In addition, most of the Americans' aid is related to military-related industries, and a considerable part of it is incomplete, if the Russians want their tanks or planes to go to the battlefield smoothly, then they need to import some parts from the United States, which may be a bearing, or it may be radio communication equipment. In short, if the Americans decide to abandon Russia, then the industry and army of the Russians will be paralyzed in a relatively short time. In addition to this, although the Americans provided the Russians with a large number of interest-free loans, some of them were even impermanent. But the Russians still have to pay for most of the aid, and the Russians are not interested in food and livestock products. The Americans want hard currency, such as gold and silver, and of course, diamonds and other things can be considered, while the Russians have very little money to buy Chinese products if they use most of the precious metals to buy American products. And without a hard currency, Huaxia will not pay for a country that does not listen to itself.
If Roosevelt could have thought of this, it would prove that he was a qualified, but not very good politician. Since Roosevelt can be called eloquent, then he will not rely only on technical links to control the Russians, he will use the general situation to force Russia to finally stand on the chariot of the Entente! That's what a chess player does. In this regard, he made full use of the two great powers, Germany and China, and although he knew that the actions of the United States could never escape the eyes and ears of these two powers, he believed that this alone was not enough, and he needed to amplify the information that could stimulate the two countries. For example, he hinted that he could reveal to the Germans some of the content of the US military aid to Russia, including the size of the tank factories and aircraft factories. As for Huaxia, what he revealed was about the impact that US aid would have on Russia's economy and national strength.
It turns out that the leak is also very learned, and Germany, which is gradually in a state of hostility with Russia, will naturally be more sensitive to the increase of Russian power, and soon after the Americans leaked the news, the Germans put the fleet nominally belonging to Russia under their control. And for the reaction of Huaxia. Roosevelt was somewhat disappointed, and it stands to reason that the growth of Russian power was not good news for China either, because the latter only needed Russian manpower. A strong Russia is not in the interests of China. But who knows, the latter did not react much. However, at a luncheon, Peng Yi mentioned in a chat with Marshall: "If Russia can participate in the war, it is also a good choice!" ”
And when Marshall faithfully told Roosevelt this sentence, Roosevelt, who was overjoyed, was a little unpredictable about what the Russians were thinking. What exactly does Huaxia mean? Didn't he know that if Russia directly entered the war, then the direct beneficiary would be the Entente, and if the Entente could defeat the Allies without relying on China, then China would not be able to gain anything in this feast. Could it be that China was so confident that the Entente would not be able to defeat the Allies? Roosevelt was a little puzzled, Roosevelt was indeed very experienced in politics, but he was not a soldier, and sometimes military affairs were not related to politics!
"World War 1 did bring Russia down from the throne of a first-class power, but it was still not enough, Germany still had the population and territory of a great power, and the latter may expand in the future. So, the only thing that can limit Russia's re-emergence is the population, especially the ethnic Russian population. Historically, the trauma of World War II on Russia actually lasted for a long time, and Russia lost a large number of people in World War II, especially ethnic Russians, which made ethnic Russians not overwhelmingly dominant in the Russian population in the coming decades, which indirectly led to instability in the country. In Xu Jie's diary, Xu Jie's idea of being willing to let Russia enter the war was clearly explained. War is never child's play, since the Russians still want to return to their former glory, let them try, the tragic losses will make the Russians finally understand that they can rely on China instead of the United States, as for whether Russia's entry into the war will make the situation beyond China's control? Xu Jie is not worried at all, knowing Germany's strong performance in World War 2 in history, Xu Jie is still full of confidence in Germany in this plane! Although he didn't know what the outcome of the 2nd World War would have in history without the Soviet Union, he knew that in this plane, the Entente without China would definitely be beaten all over the place!
In addition, judging from some of the practices of the Entente countries, Huaxia can clearly sense the differences within the Entente countries. The French wanted to rely on the strength of the United States and Britain to defend their homeland, and the British wanted to rely on the strength of the Americans to hold India, and there was a serious difference between Britain and France on the judgment of the direction of attack of the Central Powers. The French refused to deploy their main army outside Europe, while the British stressed that in order to ensure India's security, about one-third of the army must be deployed in South Asia. But no matter what, both of them are dominated by guarding, but there are some differences in the position of guarding. The Americans, on the other hand, were more proactive, hoping to completely destroy the power of Germany's outward expansion through air and naval strikes, and then destroy the raw material production areas of the Allies outside Europe one by one, and finally destroy the Allies. The oil fields of the Caucasus must be leveled with bombs, the two river basins must be occupied, and the plans and ambitions of the Americans are not comparable to those of the United States and Britain. And the Americans are indeed working in this direction, and the pace of their arms expansion is even faster than that of Britain and France!
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