In Yang Du's view, Stalingrad was no different from other Russian cities, but in the eyes of Chen Quai, the ambassador to the Soviet Union who accompanied him on the tour, the city was a turning point in diplomatic relations between China and the Soviet Union. Twelve years ago, the Baath Army occupied the city and forced the Russians to sign the Treaty of Petersburg, although these things were rarely mentioned by the Russians at the time of Sino-Soviet friendship, and even if they were mentioned, they were only summarized in terms of conflict, and all the blame was placed on Trotsky, who had just been expelled from the country this year, but Chen Quai's illness was still rare and solemn.

Yang Du, who was riding in the same car with Chen Quai, of course didn't understand his psychology, he looked at the huge factory that had begun to appear on the grassland in the distance and said with a smile: "Mr. Peiren, that is the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, right?" ”

"Yes." "The Stalingrad Tractor Factory, with an annual output of 50,000 tractors, was one of the three major machine factories in Russia's first five-year plan. Originally, we only agreed to give gasoline engines, but the Russian comrades wanted diesel engines, which almost did not come to an end, and in the end the prime minister opened his mouth......"

"Oh, did you really promise them?" The world also produces diesel engines on a large scale in China and Germany, Germany mainly uses marine diesel engines, and China uses vehicle diesel engines, and the technology is really handed over to the Russians, so it will be dangerous to compete with each other in the future, so Yang Du asked in a low voice, deliberately avoiding the Russian translator in the passenger seat in front.

"China and the Soviet Union are fraternal states, and since the Soviet comrades need diesel engines, why can't they give them to them?" Chen Quzhi did not lower his voice, but raised it, but with a smile on his face. "The Prime Minister has always been very caring for the Soviet comrades, and when he received the request of the Soviet comrades, he immediately sent a telegram to the Tonghua Diesel Engine Plant asking them to find a way. In the end, it was negotiated. ”

In Yang Du's experience, the diplomat's words cannot be trusted. Especially when Chen Quzhi smiled so weirdly, but he still wanted to say something more. The convoy had approached the gate of the tractor factory, where it was crowded with people, colorful flags fluttering, and music was noisy - a fat Russian man who seemed to be the general manager of the factory stood in front of the car smiling and applauding, and there were a few Russians around him, but it was those innocent and splendid Russian girls who held flowers and attracted Yang Du's attention. As soon as the car door opened, the sound outside drowned out the Yellow Flag official car, in addition to the sound, the heat wave of early summer time also made people nervous.

"Welcome to the old friend of the Russian people, Yang Huizi, special envoy ......" The Russian fat man headed by Yang Du and the others looked honest and cute. He spoke Chinese, but the word 'Yang Huizi' felt twisted no matter how he heard it. I think this sentence should be a formula, as long as it is welcomed by the Russians, you can put the name in it.

Just thinking about this, the Russian girl holding the flowers had already rushed up, and kissed him on the face after offering the flowers, fortunately, he had been in the League of Nations for a long time, and Yang Du was no stranger to this kind of Western etiquette. He smiled at the flower girls, and then took the initiative to stretch out his right hand and shake hands with the Russian fat man, "Thief Rust House Street." Thief De Rust House Street ......"

"Mud hair! Mud hair! … Horn horn horn ......", when the guests and hosts were greeting warmly and politely, the firecrackers crackled, which made Yang Du a little moved. During his years in Europe, he rarely heard the sound of firecrackers.

"My lord, Comrade Secretary, please visit the tractor factory." When Yang Du was moved. An interpreter whispered softly in his ear.

"Okay, I'm here this time. It is to come and see the achievements of the construction of the Russian workers' comrades. Yang Du said with a smile.

The Stalingrad Tractor Factory is like an industrial city, and the buildings inside are all standard steel-framed structures. It is square, and the exterior walls are all painted milky white, like a slice of cheese; The factories are connected by wide concrete roads and railroad tracks embedded in the concrete roads; In order to make the factory area not look too monotonous, there are flower beds on the road, and the unknown flowers in the flower beds in early summer are purple and red, and they are very good-looking, coupled with the red cloth and white Chinese character welcome banners in mid-air, and the workers are extremely happy smiles, the vibrant scene makes Yang Du completely forget the news of the Russian famine in European newspapers. Such factories, such workers, such smiles, are much better than the stinking and smoky factories of Europe.

Under the leadership of the factory secretary, Yang Du focused on visiting the completed stamping workshop, where several heavy-duty punches imported from China are the core equipment for tractor production. There is no heavy-duty punch, and it is said that it takes a month to knock on the car shell by hand, and the hands of the sheet metal master are shaking when he eats. Yang Du couldn't help but smile after listening to the content of the translation, looking at the heavy punch press that was like a house and had no walls under his feet, he asked, "Is this punch made by us?" ”

"Yes, sir." From the perspective of translation, the other side of the square punch is marked with the name of the manufacturer, written in Chinese characters - Shen Ji, obviously, this is the product of Shenyang No. 1 Machine Tool Factory, completely domestic goods.

"Oh!" Yang Du couldn't help but laugh at it, and suddenly felt that this punch was much kinder than those Chinese character signs on the wall. "How much does it cost?" He asked suddenly.

Hearing his question, the accompanying Chinese engineer said, "My lord, this is made by Shenyang No. 1 Machine Tool Factory, I really don't know how much it costs." However, when we bought a German punch press, it cost about 1.5 million marks, but this was before the world war, and I really don't know how much it sells for now. ”

China's initial industrial base was the 56 projects after the founding of the People's Republic of China, that is, 56 industrial projects, including steel, chemical industry, machinery and machine tools, coal, medicine, smelting, shipbuilding, etc., all of which added up to a total of 56 projects, which were built with the help of the Germans; During and after the European War, a large number of machines were imported from Britain, the United States and France, which strengthened the current industrial base. Now the Soviet Union is obviously following the path of China - first building a number of key projects, forming a simple but complete supporting industrial system, and then copying and expanding them, and finally forming its own industry.

I think that China built the Fifth and Sixth Projects with the help of the Germans, but then declared war on Germany; Thinking of this mission to Russia, Yang Du's whole person was not good, his face changed, and he walked out of the workshop after looking around at random.

The Russian secretary of the tractor factory did not feel Yang Du's discomfort, he greeted him warmly like a big man who had met Moscow before, and patted his chest to assure that the factory would produce a year ahead of schedule. That is, in the second half of next year, on the anniversary of the November Revolution, the first tractor will be rolled off the production line. A tribute to the great Soviets.

I looked at the workshops in various countries and walked around the construction site for a while, and waited after lunch at noon. Yang Ducai was free, he did not take a nap, but found the chief engineer of the tractor factory that aided the Soviet Union and began to ask the question he was concerned about - "Dr. Zhi, the Russians will not catch up with us, right?" He stared at Zhi Bingyuan, who was helping to answer the cost of the punch in the morning.

"My lord, this is impossible." Although Zhi Bingyuan is the chief engineer, he is also a doctor of Tongji University, and his academic qualifications have also become a popular title when his official position in China is becoming cheaper. "As far as the situation in Russia is concerned, it is not suitable to build a large factory."

"Ahh Why is that? I didn't expect Zhi Bingyuan to have such a statement. Yang Du hurriedly asked.

"My lord, the industrial system of any country is always closely related to the country's geography, resources, population and other factors. Taking agricultural machinery as an example, in addition to the Northeast, it is difficult to use American-style agricultural machinery in other regions of China, and at most it can only use French agricultural cooperatives, which is determined by the number of acres of cultivated land per capita; As for industry, the whole world can be fully industrialized by us, the United States, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa are short of water, and South American countries, India, South Seas, Australia, and Canada are short of people. There is no industrialization at all.

Russia said that there was no shortage of workers, and Russian workers were not as lazy as in the South Seas, India, and South America, but the country was too big, and the population was too small because of the bitter cold. There are also not many rivers, which makes the cost of transportation between factories too high, far less than in China and the United States and Europe. Take it as it is. Russia's best option is to develop agriculture and sell its rich mineral resources at the same time. ”

Yang Du didn't understand what the doctor said, and he heard that the transportation cost was too high. Yang Du couldn't help but ask: "But if you don't produce it yourself, don't you need shipping if you import goods from abroad?" This also costs shipping. There is also the sale of mineral resources. Shouldn't it be more economical to save freight when the added value is high after smelting? Isn't this ......"

"That's true, my lord." Zhi Bingyuan said, "But there are not only geographical factors in Russia's industrial layout, but also demographic factors, for example, this tractor factory, steel has to be transported from a thousand kilometers away, bearings have to be transported from Moscow, rubber is even farther, and it has to be transported from Nanyang...... freight costs for these parts are extremely expensive."

Russia naturally has more resources than we do, but if we look at it in detail, it is because its territory is so vast, but it is precisely because of this that its factories can only be built in pieces, and it is not necessary for us to build industrial zones and concentrate all the factories together, which will increase the freight costs, and these freight costs will make the products produced by it several times higher than those of imported products, or even double, so that it is better to build than to rent, and it is better to rent than to buy. ”

"But they can also build an industrial zone...... Yang Du is indeed industrial blind, and when he heard that the industrial zone is the key, he asked again.

"My lord, it's hard to build an industrial zone!" Zhi Bingyuan said, "In our country, that is, only Liaodong, Shanxi, Wuhan, Ma'anshan, these four places can be built, even so, in addition to Liaodong, Shanxi, Wuhan, Ma'anshan also have their own shortcomings, although Shanxi is rich in minerals, but the cost of export is too high; Wuhan is on the Yangtze River, but coal and iron resources are limited, and other minerals are also few; Ma'anshan is similar, if not worse, not only because of the scarcity of minerals, but also the lack of coal except for iron ore.

This is still us, we have never had to worry about the population in the planning of industrial zones, for example, Liaodong, now there are 3 million workers, and the number of workers will definitely exceed 10 million for continued development, and it is estimated that there will be 20 or 30 million in 50 years. But this is obviously not possible in Russia, because Russia is vast and sparsely populated, and the distance between cities is too far, and the population of a city can only withstand a few large factories, such as Stalingrad, and it is okay to build a few more factories, but it is obviously not possible to put the entire industrial area and industrial chain here, because the accompanying immigration projects require huge investment; And this is the lower reaches of the Volga, and if it were in Siberia or some other place in the north, 10 million workers were gathered in one industrial area, and the environment would simply not be able to bear it.

Lack of minerals, lack of water, lack of roads, industry cannot develop, but this is only the situation in our country. From Russia's point of view, the distribution of mineral resources is too scattered, not to mention, more importantly, there is a shortage of people where there are mines, and there is a shortage of mines where there are people, how can this industry develop well? Europe is actually a dismantled China, population is not a problem, and it faces the sea on three sides, the canals and railways in the territory are vertical and horizontal, and the density is jaw-dropping, so industrialization is not difficult; The situation in the United States is more special, and its industry can be as large as it is today. The United States has the Great Lakes, although its population is not enough to support large industrial areas. However, the convenience and inexpensive water transport has virtually expanded the scope of the industrial area, and the resources and population in the Great Lakes basin are sufficient. In this way, the United States has established an industrial ...... comparable to that of Europe."

Dr. Zhi was popularized, and Yang Du suddenly realized, and he couldn't help but say: "Then why does Russia still build a large industry?" ”

"This ......" I didn't expect Yang Du to ask like this, Zhi Bingyuan shook his head and said: "Premier Yang said that the Russian comrades can help them build whatever they want, and there is no need to say much about other things." ”

"I see." Yang Du himself felt that it was wrong after asking, why did the Russians build a large industry? Isn't this being beaten by European and American countries? He withdrew from the fighting in Europe, did not recognize loans from various countries, and confiscated the property of governments and businessmen in Russia. These practices are simply not recognized by governments. Although he drove out the intervening armies of various countries with the covert help of China in the eleventh year, it was not possible to always turn to other countries, and in the eyes of the Russian Bolsheviks, self-reliance and self-production were the way to build a country.

Yang Du, who understood that Russia was difficult to industrialize, was slightly relieved about Russia, and he talked to Zhi Bingyuan for a while before sending him away, but as soon as Zhi Bingyuan left, Chen Qu was sick, he didn't know that Yang Du had relieved his worries, he only remembered that he looked wrong when he visited the factory, so as soon as he came in, he said with concern: "Huizi doesn't rest at noon?" Feeling unwell? ”

"There are some questions that I don't understand. So I consulted Dr. Zhi. Yang Du was a little sleepy at this time, he yawned, and said, "This finally solves one of my doubts." I don't want to sleep anymore. ”

"It's good to clear up your doubts." Chen Quzhi was generally aware of Yang Du's concerns, but he had been in Russia for more than 20 years and knew the situation in Russia well. I have never worried that Russia's development will endanger China, especially in the last decade. "Shroud. After visiting the tractor factory today, tomorrow down the Volga River will be the sea. The Dezhi Sea is the boundary sea between China and the Soviet Union, which ......"

The Deling Sea is the Caspian Sea, and the name comes from the Dezhi water: the Ural River. The reason why these ancient names are used is that it is said that a person named Zhang Xinghong of the Ministry of Rites believes that when sacrificing heaven and earth and reporting to the ancestors, the ancestors may not understand where these places are and the geometry of China's land, so they specially compiled a comparative table of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign place names, country names, and family names, and wrote a brief world history to burn it when the Temple of Heaven was worshipped, in order to comprehensively popularize the changes of the ancestors to the present day. Yang Du didn't care about the ancient and retro tricks of the Ministry of Rites, but Chen Quai, an old revival member, took it as a guideline - he almost called the Volga River Ade Shui.

"I just want to see the major factories that have been built with the help this time, and don't go inside... Go to the sea over there," Yang Du said.

"Why don't you go and take a look?" Chen Quzhi said vaguely that he was worried that the wall had ears.

"It's useless for me to watch it." Yang Du explained the purpose of his visit to Russia as early as the embassy, and he visited the factory to find out how deeply dependent Russia is on China today, so that he could talk about the Eurasian Canal in the face of Stalin. "Besides, the news from China is that it will be ...... soon, and I should go back to Moscow at this time."

Chen Qu's illness was vague, and Yang Du didn't say anything about some things. In fact, it is now the early summer of the eighteenth year of Shenwu, and in the year 1929 of the Jesus calendar, the new president of the United States, Charles Murphy. Gates. Mr. Dawes, who took office more than a month ago, plans to visit China in the second half of the year in an effort to expand China's infrastructure and import American products to boost an increasingly dangerous U.S. economy. But the New York stock market obviously can't hold up at that time, especially under Yang Rui's suggestion, Britain and France and other countries are ready to take advantage of the fire to rob, thinking about how to make a big profit.

"Okay." Chen Quzhi twisted his beard, smiled and took out a map, he pointed between the Volga River and the Don River, "But be careful that the owner is going to ...... here, and the money spent here will be much less, even if you have to build seven (ship) locks." But after all, the money is limited, and they probably only want to build this number of tonnage," Chen Quzhi stretched out his five fingers, which means five thousand tons, "For business, this number is too small, and it is only necessary to double it, and it is best to double it, so it is impossible to build a large (ship) lock here, after all, it is necessary to build a large (ship) lock, and many other conditions are also restricted." ”

"Understood." Yang Du's heart burned when he thought of the Eurasian Canal, and then he thought of what Dr. Zhi just said, 'Europe... Surrounded by the sea on three sides, I think that if this canal is opened, then China will be surrounded by the sea on three sides. If he can convince Stalin, the general secretary of Soviet Russia, and the people of the country can name the city and the project as the Russian, then the Eurasian Canal may be called the 'Yang Huizi' Canal in the future, which is a hundred years of work.

Yang Du, a columnist, felt a little hot when he thought of these. When I think of Stalin again, I feel extremely confident - for the Chinese friends who came to the aid of the Bolsheviks. When Stalin received him, he greeted him with warmth and was extremely cordial. This gave Yang Du some illusions......

In the guest house of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, Yang Du thought about Comrade Stalin, and in his office in the Kremlin, Comrade Stalin thought about him.

In Stalin's office, where there was only a table and a few chairs, and a portrait of Comrade Li Ning, the great revolutionary mentor, was hung on the wall. Rudolfervich. Minzhensky was standing at Stalin's desk to report. "......, Comrade Stalin, as we learned during this time, the Chinese envoy had no other plans, he just went to visit the factories that were built with aid."

"No, Comrade Vyacheslav. Experience tells me that this person is Yang Jingcheng's cronies, he will not just come to visit the factory, and although Yang Jingcheng has stepped down, the power is still in his hands. Stalin habitually chewed his pipe and exhaled smoke, his left hand pressed against the table, and the fingers of his right hand holding his usual blue pencil, "Maybe I should have been to China once a few years ago......

The last sentence was just Stalin's support, and in fact he would have liked to go to China before Yang Rui left office, rather than send his own confidant Molotov. But the struggle within the party was fierce. Trotsky was the first, but he had been relieved of his post as Chairman of the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs four years earlier; This was followed by Zinoviev and Kamenev, and finally Kamenev was ousted from the Politburo (Standing Committee) and became an alternate member of the Politburo (Politburo). However, they then formed an alliance with Trotsky to form a 'united opposition', preaching the 'theory of permanent revolution' and refuting 'socialism in one country', and thus united with Bukharin. They were soon expelled from the party;

After the leftists went down, the 'right-leaning opposition' of Bukharin came up again. They opposed the collective farms and adhered to the NEP, and Stalin helped up the defeated and wrong-minded leftists (Trotsky refused to admit his mistakes). exiled to Siberia and finally deported). At the 16th Congress held last month, Stalin began to devastatingly criticize Bukharin as 'the protector of capitalism and the spokesman of kulak ideas'......

By this time, Comrade Iron and Steel had mastered the entire political situation, but at this time, Yang Rui had been out of office for a year.

"Comrade Stalin, there is nothing out of the ordinary except that those Chinese bourgeois elements continue to denigrate the great Soviets as unfit for industrialization; Moreover, these bourgeois elements have no technical reservations about the workers' comrades. Minzhensky saw that Stalin did not believe his investigation, and his face immediately stiffened. It is well known that Dzerzhinsky, the former head of the Cheka, died of a heart attack after being scolded by Stalin - he was simply scared to death by the general secretary.

"I know that very well." Comrade Iron stood up, although he did not read much, he could still understand the theory of the Chinese. From an economic point of view alone, Russia is indeed not suitable for building into an industrial country, but this is contrary to its own proposal of 'building socialism in one country', and naturally cannot be promoted, fortunately, the Chinese only say it internally, and it has no impact on the Russians. "Keep watching, and see what he came for......" Before Stalin could finish speaking, the telephone on the table rang, and he picked up the microphone and began to listen to the report quietly.

When Stalin answered the phone, Akihito basically wanted to push it away, but Comrade General Secretary's instructions were not over, and he did not dare to leave. As for the sound on the phone, he deliberately stood at a distance and did not dare to listen, but Comrade Stalin listened to it, his expression changed several times, and even after finally finishing and hanging up the phone, he still stood there in a daze, only smoke kept spewing out from front of him, and it seemed that he had encountered some problem.

It was only after a long time that Stalin turned to look at him and smiled: "Comrade Vyacheslav, capitalism is about to collapse!" ”

"What?!" Minzhensky didn't know why, looking at Stalin's smile in a daze, he wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh.

"I said capitalism was going to collapse!" Stalin said loudly, as if trying to cheer himself up. "The New York stock market plummeted a few hours ago, which fully confirms the prediction of Marx, the great revolutionary teacher: the world economic crisis is coming! Capitalism is doomed! Communism will be realized! (To be continued.) )