Struggle in Soviet Russia

After walking a dozen steps in the direction of the alleyway, Victor slowed down listening to the crackling sound of the rainstorm on the umbrella, and at the same time he turned his sight to the left side of the alley. There was a fork in the road, this fork in the road. It can lead to the Alessandro Garden not far away.

Abandoning his intention to move forward, Victor looked back, then deflected and walked in the direction of the fork in the road.

Varenka who followed him was stunned for a moment, but didn't say anything, just followed closely.

When he went out today, Victor did not wear his uniform. After all, he came out to visit the patient, so he wore casual clothes, trousers and a T-shirt, facing the heavy rain, even though he held an umbrella, but only in the rain After walking for a few minutes, all the trousers below the knee were soaked.

The Alessandro Garden was originally not a garden. Before the outbreak of the war, to be precise, before the outbreak of the Battle of Moscow, the former site of the garden was still a community, but during the Battle of Moscow, it was bombed by the Germans. The entire community was completely destroyed. Therefore, after the end of the Moscow battle, after the Moscow City Committee’s research, a park was directly built here.

From the alley to the park, you need to pass two bridges. The bridges are also newly built. There is no specific name because they are made of stone, so people nearby call them Big Stone Bridge and Small Stone Bridge.

And after the small stone bridge, there is an underground passage, above the passage is a railway line.

Victor walked all the way from Lavrushin Lane. When he passed the underground passage, he found that a lot of people had gathered in this secluded place. Yes, despite the heavy rain, this somewhat remote place was still full of gatherings. Got people.

It was the first time for Victor to come on Laflush Lane, so he was somewhat surprised by what he saw before him.

In this sufficiently spacious underground passage, many small merchants and vendors gathered at this time. Walking down the ramp, you can see small stalls on the side of the road in the passage. Cabbage is a very common vegetable nowadays. In addition, there are tomatoes and eggs. Fruits such as grapes and apples are rare.

Victor put away the umbrella on the downhill **** of the passage. The first thing he saw was a middle-aged man pushing a bicycle selling milk on the side of the road. There was a large canvas bag on the back of his bicycle and the bottled milk was in it. In the bag, there is also a wooden sign with a price code on the rear frame of the car.

"Hey, do you need canned meat?" Just passing by the middle-aged man’s bicycle, a young man wrapped in a black raincoat approached Victor. He opened the front of the raincoat and let Victor look at the things hanging inside while whispering. Asked, "Real canned meat, American!"

Victor's path was blocked by the opponent, and he subconsciously glanced into the opponent's arms, and he saw that there were actually some cans hanging on the inside of the opponent's raincoat.

Canned food is the kind of canned luncheon meat packaged in iron sheet. Victor had eaten it before. Just look at the English "SPAM" on the canned food packaging to know where this stuff came from.

Needless to say, what young people have in their arms is the Spam canned luncheon meat that the Americans transported to the Soviet Union during the war. This thing is said to be canned meat, but in fact it contains very little meat, and the main ingredient is starch. But because the calories are high enough, the feeling of fullness is strong, and the taste is good, it is still more popular in the Soviet Red Army.

But the problem is that this spam canned luncheon meat belongs to munitions. As far as Victor knows, although part of the Soviet Union’s aid from the United States has been transferred to civilian use, this stuff has not been sold to the private sector. This guy in front of you Where did you get this thing again?

"Is there a need? Real canned meat, American, it tastes very good," the young man definitely doesn't know who Victor is, otherwise he wouldn't dare to sell him in front of Victor if he gave him eighteen courage. .

"How much?" After stopping, Victor looked at the can in the young man's arms and asked with a smile.

"Three rubles, only three rubles," the young man immediately replied. He took out a box of canned food from his arms, turned it over and displayed it in front of Victor, and said, "Three rubles can buy such a piece of meat. Cost-effective?"

Victor nodded casually, then turned around to look for Varenka.

Varenka was behind him, turned him sideways, and quickly took out a wallet, took the banknote and handed it to the young man.

Taking a box of cans from the young man, Victor squeezed it in his hand and looked at the stamp on the lid of the box. Yes, it was the supplies sent by the Americans with a black stamp on the lid. It is enough to prove this point.

Glancing at the young man again, Victor smiled and continued to move forward.

There is no doubt that this underground passage is a small-scale black market. Before the outbreak of the war, such small black markets were widespread throughout the Alliance. At that time, the People's Committee of the Interior had cleared it out, but the effect was not so obvious. And with the outbreak of the war, this illegal existence not only did not disappear, but on the contrary, there is a trend of intensification. Just like in Leningrad, even during the period of siege by the Germans, the black market always existed, and those who could go to the black market The people who put in the materials are often guys with great abilities.

Victor passed through the underground passage all the way, but at a distance of more than 20 meters, he saw no less than 30 or 40 stalls. Of course, there were some mobile vendors who didn't even have a stall. Most of these mobile vendors were selling similar cigarettes, Sugar and the like, and Victor took a look at it, and most of the cigarettes and candies they peddled actually came from abroad.

Victor is really curious. Now that the war is not over, how did these guys get the smuggled goods?

Strictly speaking, things like the investigation of the black market and the arrest of smuggling should be handled by the NKVD and have nothing to do with the work of the NKVD. However, if the provisions are deadlocked, the work of the ideological protection bureau includes the content of maintaining the economic order of the alliance. In other words, the ideological protection bureau can also manage the work of combating smuggling and banning the black market.

Of course, what Victor is really paying attention to now is not this small black market hidden under the bridge hole. What he really cares about is the young man who peddled Spam’s luncheon meat to him. He wanted to find out that the young man’s Where did the canned luncheon meat come from?

Going through the underground passage and re-supporting the umbrella, Victor took the can of luncheon meat in his hand and walked up the slope. After passing through the Alessandro Garden, he went directly to Granowski Street. .

Before, Valenka parked the car at the junction of Granowski Avenue and Lavrushin Alley. When Victor returned, he had circled a long distance and walked an angle. At this time, he got on Granowski Street. On the main street, Varenka had to walk a few hundred meters to the right, where he had parked before.

Let Varenka drive over, and Victor stood on the side of the road, playing with Spam's luncheon meat in his hand, while thinking about the situation when he visited Kalinin in the Kremlin hospital.

Comrade Kalinin’s physical condition is really not optimistic. According to the doctors, his intestinal tumor should be malignant. Although it was discovered very early, he is still very old and is no longer suitable for surgery. Therefore, the best coping strategy is conservative treatment.

According to the doctor's advice, it is best to let him rest more and take less heavy work.

In fact, Comrade Kalinin did not have any heavy work to undertake. At present, he is actually responsible for only one task, and that is the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. After all, he is still the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, that is, the nominal head of state. However, the head of state itself does not have much power. It is said that the furnishings are not appropriate, but it is almost the same.

Of course, the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet is not something no one wants to do, but Comrade Stalin takes care of Kalinin, the old man, and even now he is more willing to let him sit in this position.

However, this time the situation is obviously more special. Facing Comrade Kalinin's poor health, even Comrade Stalin had to consider who should be arranged to replace the old comrade.

For the present, Comrade Shvernik, chairman of the National Park of the Supreme Presidium of the Union and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Russia, should be the most hopeful to take over this post. But having said that, this guy now only has the status of an alternate member of the Politburo. , He directly took over the post of chairman of the Supreme Soviet Presidium of the Union, it seems that the level is not enough.

Victor considered that if the position really fell to Shvernik in the end, then this guy who had made mistakes had really taken a big step forward in his career. However, this does not seem to be surprising, after all, this guy should be regarded as a close friend of Comrade Stalin. Although Comrade Stalin did not have the idea of ​​concurrently serving as the chairman of the Supreme Soviet Presidium, he obviously hopes to sit in this position as his own. After Kalinin, Shvernik is also a good candidate.

After waiting for about five or six minutes on the side of the road, Varenka finally drove the car over.

Victor got into the car and threw the can of luncheon meat in his hand directly on the back seat. He watched the boxy can tumbling twice on the back seat, and finally landed at the gap between the seat and the backrest. Victor's eyebrows were raised. After picking a challenge, he has already made a decision. This matter must be checked carefully, as it was the first case investigated after he changed jobs.