In fact, money is a very hot thing for Shulka. As mentioned before, in the Soviet Union, this money was almost impossible to spend, especially when supplies were depleted during the war... Most of the supplies were made by
The country distributes it uniformly, and the money is probably used to buy some food or other things among the people.
To put it simply, money is indeed necessary because it can be exchanged for food to ensure that you will not starve to death.
But too much money is meaningless...it will only bring potential danger to yourself.
Therefore, it’s not that Shulka doesn’t like money, it’s just that it came at the wrong time.
But Shulka still showed his eyes shining... He had to pretend that he liked money and was willing to be bribed by John.
"Comrade Shulka!" John lowered his voice and said: "We are studying the feasibility of the suggestion you made before. Although we probably will not adopt this suggestion, we still thank you for providing us with information and ideas! These are
I mean, for confidentiality reasons, we hope you won’t tell others the content of our conversation!”
"Of course, Comrade John!" Shulka took the suitcase, weighed it, and replied with a satisfied expression: "I won't tell anyone!"
Shulka knew that John was not telling the truth... The reason why John emphasized that "we probably will not adopt this suggestion" was because John was worried that Shulka would leak the information.
But in fact, John just said that he knew very well that he could not deceive Shulka, especially since the United Kingdom had to purchase a large number of amphibious landing ships from the Soviet Union, not to mention that Shulka had inextricable connections with the top brass of the Soviet army.
So Shulka didn't tell John the truth either.
As soon as John left, Shulka called Beria... Only Beria knew about the "spy" relationship with the United Kingdom, so he had to report directly to him.
"They have made a decision!" Shulka said: "I think you should consider the terms of negotiation, Comrade Beria!"
"Very good, Comrade Shulka!" Beria replied: "You have made another great contribution, just do it!"
In fact, this is not the first time Shulka and Beria have spoken on the phone about this matter.
After giving John advice last time, Shulka reported to Beria... This matter is not only related to the strategies of Britain and the Soviet Union, but more likely to whether the Soviet Union will be attacked from both sides. Such a big thing
Shulka didn't dare to make his own decisions.
After a brief report, Belia agreed on the spot: "I agree to do this. It will not do us any good if the British lose Africa! In fact, we have been having a headache about this matter recently, discussing it.
How to solve this problem? Some people even suggested that we send troops to Africa to reinforce the British, because helping the British to protect Africa can protect our transportation lines in the Caucasus direction and prevent us from being attacked from both sides! However, we do not have the extra troops and materials to expedition to Africa.
.I didn’t expect that this problem would be solved for you like this. None of us thought that we could do this, Shulka! The price we have to pay is probably just some amphibious landing ships!"
"No, Comrade Beria!" Shulka said: "That will not be the price we 'pay,' because we can negotiate with the British!"
"Yes!" Beria nodded with satisfaction: "We can indeed negotiate with them!"
Although the Soviet Union and Britain had common interests on the African issue, Britain was imminent and the Soviet Union was still uncertain.
Therefore, the Soviet Union is certainly qualified to negotiate with the British direction.
The result was just as Shulka imagined, because the Soviet Union was fully prepared and took the absolute initiative in this negotiation.
The basic negotiation method is:
"No, this is simply blackmail. You can't ask for so many planes and tanks. All you get in exchange are your broken ships!"
"You don't have to change!"
"But, we are allies! Britain has given you a lot of supplies, and now it is time for you to repay us!"
"It's not giving, it's renting! If you don't want to change... we don't care!"
"It's even easy to produce! We can too!"
"Then we might as well wait?"
…
In the end, the British compromised and exchanged 50 Spitfires and 100 tanks, plus dozens of tons of supporting ammunition and parts, for 500 amphibious landing craft.
This is almost unimaginable, because the amphibious landing ship does not have much technical content. It is more about creativity, that is, adding wheels to the ship so that it can travel on both water and land. And this thing
It also happens to be able to make up for the shortcomings of amphibious landing warfare, which is extremely difficult and immature in this era.
If it were normal times, the British would not be willing to exchange 500 of these for a British Spitfire, but now, they can exchange for 50 of them in one go, as well as 100 tanks...
Of course Churchill was furious, but there was nothing he could do.
Because if the war in Africa fails, the impact on Britain will be too great, and Britain cannot afford such losses.
All Churchill could do was to postpone the delivery of these supplies and transport them from the direction of Leningrad. (Note: There is another route for British supplies to the Soviet Union, which is from the British mainland via the Norwegian Sea, bypassing Sweden and Finland, and landing in Leningrad.
Grad)
This request is very reasonable. On the one hand, the British need these materials because of the current tense war situation in Africa. On the other hand, it is already very difficult to transport materials produced in the United Kingdom to the island of Malta. Transporting these materials to the Soviet Union can reduce the pressure on the island of Malta.
.
So the Soviet Union quickly signed the contract without any fuss.
At that moment, Beria called Shulka excitedly.
"Do you know? We have obtained another 50 Spitfire fighter jets!" Beria said: "With the addition of the 50 fighter jets we obtained with intelligence, we can even establish an aviation division!"
"We really need to build an aviation division!" Shulka said: "This winter is a good opportunity!"
"Yes!" Beria said: "We can use this winter to familiarize pilots with these aircraft. Of course, we need the help of British pilots!"
"I think we must have asked for pilots when we were negotiating!"
"Of course!" Beria laughed loudly: "Do you think we are that stupid?"
"No, of course not!" Shulka also felt that his worries were unnecessary.
In fact, since the last batch of 50 Spitfires were delivered to the Soviet Air Force, the British had already sent instructors to train Soviet pilots.
So this is not a problem at all. (To be continued)