Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

As he was about to finish breakfast, Yannick remembered something. "By the way, I have to ask you to bring some information back and tell General Tukhachevsky that you have heard about our super tank plan. It weighs 150 tons, has a brand new power unit, and has a speed of 40 kilometers per hour. 128 mm main body gun and 75mm secondary battery, and over 200mm of armor."

Natasha's eyes widened in shock. "150 tons? Really?" What is the concept of 150 tons? As far as she knows, the T-18 tank independently produced by the Soviet Union is only a little over 5 tons.

Yannick nodded seriously. "Of course it's true." But it won't be produced in batches.

Gathering in the conference room again, Tukhachevsky conveyed Stalin's request to Yannick, who first needed to review the drawings.

"Auditing the drawings?" Yannick was not an idiot, and he understood Stalin's plan after a moment's thought. They asked for the drawings first, and then they wanted to start the construction themselves? It's a pity that even if he knows that you can't build it at all, he can't give you the drawings, because all he has in his mind is the data of the battleships, and there is no complete design at all. What can he give to him?

Last night he called several design experts from the Navy Ministry and asked them to design the "Yamato". These experts were all stunned after hearing the data of this "super battleship", saying that it would take at least a year and a half to design such a super battleship.

"It's not like I'm asking you to actually build it. I just need to make it look like that. Can't you just enlarge the existing battleship design drawings?" After hammering for a long time, these old stubborns came to their senses and said that they could do it within a month. designed.

Although a month is too long, Yannick has plenty of ways to delay it. "It's not impossible for you to review the drawings. The drawings are not free. Just exchange them for grain as mentioned yesterday."

Of course, Tukhachevsky also knew that the Germans could not give them the drawings for review in vain, and he was mentally prepared for this, so he nodded and asked. "How much do you want?"

Yannick held out a finger. "Since we are friends, I'm embarrassed to ask for more. Ten million tons."

Ten million tons? Tukhachevsky has a bit of an urge to curse? Do you think the Soviet Union’s food fell from the sky? "Your Majesty Yannick is really good at joking. Even if we buy such a warship, we still don't have 10 million tons of food, right?"

"..." That's true. He remembered that the original Time and Space Yamato cost 1.6 billion U.S. dollars. If he exchanged it for 10 million tons of grain, wouldn't a ton of grain only cost 41 U.S. dollars? Now just to get a blueprint requires 10 million tons of grain. No wonder Tukhachevsky reacted like this.

"General Tukhachevsky, don't just look at its price. This battleship is a 'super battleship' that carries the destiny of our Germany." Yannick specially emphasized the words "super battleship". "If I use 10 million tons of grain to seize maritime hegemony, I will throw it out without hesitation, let alone 10 million tons, even 100 million tons. But food is food after all, and if it is thrown out, it will just sink to the bottom of the sea and foam. . And this 'super battleship' is our weapon for Germany to regain maritime hegemony. It can be said to be our country's artifact. If it weren't for the fact that the current German economy is really not optimistic, and the friendship between us, even if it is expensive Even if you offer 100 million tons or 1 billion tons, I won't disclose the information about this battleship. Don't think that I don't know what your plan is. I guess you will reject our request after thoroughly 'reviewing' the drawings, and immediately Let’s start replicating this battleship?”

Of course Tukhachevsky also understood that this was what the great leader Comrade Stalin meant. Although they knew that the Germans would not give them the blueprints in vain, after all, they were doing it under the guise of "review". Even if the Germans asked for a price, it would be far lower than the price of a warship.

Tukhachevsky couldn't help but sigh secretly. It was okay to let him lead the troops in the war, but he was really not very good at bargaining. "Your Majesty Yannik, if you have paid attention to the recent situation in the Soviet Union, you will find that our harvest is not actually a bumper harvest. The Soviet people are also scrimping on food and clothing. As a national leader, of course you understand that the people of your country cannot eat enough. It’s such a worry to have enough food.”

The Soviet Union is indeed not rich in food.

Until 1913, Russia was a net exporter of cereals. At that time, the country's population was 150 million, the average annual grain output was 75 to 90 million tons, and 5 to 10 million tons of grain could be exported every year. During 1923-1925, the same grain output was probably enough to feed rural residents, but not enough to supply the rapidly increasing number of workers in the cities.

However, how to feed the growing number of people is not the only thing that worries the Russians. Some important agricultural regions were impoverished, and much of the remaining grain available for market came from Ukraine, the North Caucasus, and western Siberia—from areas frequently threatened by early drought.

In 1917, large, highly productive private farms were nationalized, and arable land was given to small farmers, resulting in a sharp decline in food "available to the market." Only about 10 million tons of grain are sold in the domestic market every year, which can no longer meet the needs of cities with a growing population. There is not much grain available for export.

As early as 1928 and 1929, Russia had to import grain from abroad to prevent severe food shortages in urban areas. This was the “grain problem” behind the forced collectivization of 1930 and 1931; although agricultural collectivization did not directly increase the output of grain boxes, it helped transport harvested grain from the countryside to the city.

In this case, 10 million tons? He wouldn't agree to this condition unless he was crazy.

Yannick nodded. "Of course, I feel deeply about this, otherwise I wouldn't have offered this battleship in exchange for your country's supplies." But I felt a little impatient in my heart. Why are you talking so much? Bargain directly? I don't have that much time to listen to your nonsense right now.

After nagging for a long time, Tukhachevsky finally got to the point. "The price you are asking for is too high and we really can't afford it."

What an ink stain. Yannick asked after secretly despising him. "Then tell me directly, general, how much do you want to pay?"

"800,000 tons."

The corner of Yannick's mouth twitched slightly, cutting directly from 10 million tons to 800,000 tons? You are too cruel. "General Tukhachevsky, you just said that our price is too outrageous, but I think your price is outrageous." Anyway, no matter how much you bid, you will make money in vain, so just take whatever you can get.

After some haggling, the two finally set the price at 1.6 million tons. The premise of this price is that the Soviet Union agrees to Yannick's request yesterday and transports Soviet mineral raw materials to be processed into finished products by German factories and then sent back to the Soviet Union. There is also the fact that the design drawings of the battleship will not be handed over to the Soviet Union at once. Every time the Soviet Union ships one-tenth of the food, Germany will also deliver one-tenth of the design drawings.

Although Tukhachevsky tried hard to get Yannik to deliver all the design drawings at once, Yannick refused to let go. He didn't even have a single design drawing in his hand, so what could he give to others?

After everything was settled, Tukhachevsky couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his forehead. Although he also felt that the Soviet Union had made a profit this time, the Yannick in front of him was more like a greedy businessman, and it took him a lot of effort to ask for high prices. It made him despise the evil nature of capitalism from the bottom of his heart.

"But..." Tukhachevsky said doubtfully when he saw that Yanik was hesitant to speak. "Do you have any more questions, Mr. Yannick?"