HK Composite: Starting from Shenghe Leading

Chapter 566: Questions about Corn
This kind of outfit can be seen everywhere in the streets of Kiev in winter and is not conspicuous at all.

"Really? That just shows that he is too fragile."

Lin Zehao did not wear a hat, but wore a woolen coat, a woolen scarf, and specially made warm boots.

This kind of outfit can keep you warm without looking too bulky.

Although it is not snowing now, it is winter in Kiev after all, and you can't wear too little.

Looking at the endless, bare land in front of him, Lin Zehao was inspired, "I really can't figure out what kind of 'smart' mind would think of growing corn in the Polar Bear Alliance?"

"Uh……"

This question left Kravchuk, who was known for his adaptability and quick thinking, speechless for a moment.

He hesitated for a long time, his mind racing, going over all the knowledge he had acquired in his life so far, but still couldn't utter a single word.

It’s not that he lacks the language, but this matter is really hard to explain.

Because this so-called "corn policy" was proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev, the former head of the Polar Bear Alliance.

Moreover, this movement, which was so vigorous at the time, ultimately ended in failure.

If a top leader proposes a failed reform, it might become a joke in a country like the United States and be laughed at by opponents or the public.

But in the somewhat special feudal system of polar bears, if you dare to speak ill of your superiors, you will lose your head!
What are the special operations team and the Internal Affairs Committee for? Isn't it just to deal with one's own people?
Although given Kravchuk's status and the current special situation, discussing related issues is not as sensitive as imagined.

But politics is about factions.

Gorbachev was a native of Ermao and made great contributions to the development of Ermao.

Kravchuk was also a traitor and had received political help from Gorbachev.

In addition, now that the other party has passed away, it would seem a bit inappropriate for him to say some irrelevant things.

"Actually, we can't blame him for all this..."

"You know, our system, where there are no competing parties and only one person in power has advantages, but it also has disadvantages."

"When your subordinates want to hide something from you, you will never be able to detect the truth..."

The so-called "corn movement" actually has a simple origin.

As we all know, agricultural issues have always been the weak link in the national economic development of the Polar Bear Alliance in the early post-war period.

Especially in recent years, polar bears have been purchasing food on a large scale internationally, and their domestic food is no longer enough for people to eat.

Although according to official records, the country has always been prosperous and the people are strong, and the granaries are full of grain.

But, in reality, we can only say that those who understand will understand.

Now that I have strayed from the topic, let’s get back to the historical context of the time.

Due to the long-term implementation of the "Stalin model" and the emphasis on the development of heavy industry, agriculture has been developing slowly for a long time, farmers' enthusiasm for production is not high, and grain production is even lower than that of the Imperial Russia period.

Therefore, in 1949, Khrushchev adopted the "square hole sowing method" based on the traditional corn planting experience of the Ermao farmers, allowing local farmers to expand corn planting by two million hectares at one time, resulting in a bumper harvest.

This made Khrushchev very excited and he began to look at corn with a new eye.

Moreover, because of the good harvest, it was considered part of his political achievements, which made him even better to corn.

At the end of the same year, Khrushchev was successfully promoted to become the Secretary of the Core Secretariat and concurrently the First Secretary of Moscow.

The combination of these two factors caused his power to expand greatly, and his ambition also began to expand.

After some thought, Khrushchev once again remembered the corn that had made him famous.

Therefore, after some discussion with his subordinates, Khrushchev planned to promote corn cultivation on a large scale.

To this end, he carefully conducted two related experiments in his own vegetable garden, both of which were unprecedented successes.

Therefore, in 1953, Khrushchev decided to expand the scale of the experiment and plant corn on the farm near his home, turning the farm from "a very bad garbage farm in the past" into "the most advanced and profitable farm in the country", without a doubt!

Such a hugely successful experience inevitably went to Khrushchev's head, and gave him the idea of ​​promoting corn planting throughout the Polar Bear Alliance.

At the beginning, this idea only popped up from time to time, but as time went on and power expanded, this little idea became bigger and bigger until it was out of control.

Finally, in March of the same year, the great and kind father Comrade Stalin passed away.

In September, Khrushchev was appointed head of the Polar Bear Alliance.

According to common sense, Khrushchev, who had just gained supreme power, should have calmed down for a while in order to consolidate his power.

After all, cleaning up dissidents is a very common thing.

Just find a random excuse, such as embezzlement, bribery or something like that, and arrest him.

His predecessors before him have always done this.

But Khrushchev made a decision that was beyond everyone's expectations. In the same month when he became the top leader, he formally proposed in public that corn should be planted on a large scale.

At first, no one took this matter seriously, and some people even regarded these words as just a blueprint for a better future development for the people.

However, as things developed, things gradually became a little wrong.

From then on, whenever Khrushchev got the chance, he would advocate for the promotion of corn planting.

Every time this happened, he would tell the story over and over again about his great achievements, how he had transformed the farms around his home from "the worst garbage farms in the past" into "the most advanced and profitable farms in the country," something he never even thought of.

As a result, some reporters later even wrote interview reports in advance because they were certain that such a scene would occur.

In Khrushchev's view, the only way out of the Polar Bear Alliance's agricultural predicament is to develop animal husbandry!
And "how livestock products are produced on a large scale depends largely on whether there is enough food."

Without enough food, it is impossible to develop animal husbandry on a large scale.

After all, if people are hungry, they can eat the northwest wind, so the same cannot be said for livestock, right? Therefore, Khrushchev believed that the miraculous effect of corn was undoubtedly the best remedy to solve the problem!
In September 1959, Khrushchev visited the United States at the invitation of US President Eisenhower.

During his visit, he paid a special visit to Gast Farm, which is world-famous for its corn cultivation, and witnessed the endless corn harvest on the vast plains of North America.

There is no doubt that he, who already believed that corn was the most perfect crop in the world, further reaffirmed this idea.

After returning to the Polar Bear Alliance, in order to promote corn planting, Khrushchev often went to the grassroots and personally instilled the "corn ideology" into grassroots agricultural leaders.

After his tireless promotion and his constant talking, the Polar Bear Alliance's corn planting area expanded from 3.5 million hectares to more than 18 million hectares two years later!
Even though it had increased fivefold, Khrushchev was still not satisfied with it.

To this end, he formally and solemnly proposed at the conference that the domestic corn planting area should reach 28 million hectares by 1960!
How can I describe this decision? Maybe the starting point and idea were good, but I just didn’t use my brain when I spoke.

As the saying goes, oranges grown in the south don’t grow the same in the north.

Corn is indeed not a precious crop, and it can even be said to be simple and crude.

But the territory of the Polar Bear Alliance is too large!
What would you do with the corn that is suitable for growing in Ermao's territory, but now it is on the Siberian ice field?
Corn is also difficult to cook!
But the great Khrushchev never considered these things. With a wave of his hand, he turned corn planting into a political task that must be completed!
Anyone who fails to accomplish it is disloyal to the Party and the country!
In this case, what should the local leaders do?
This kind of crappy plan that was thought up on the spur of the moment is simply a fantasy!
Even if they lived in the fields for twenty hours, they would never be able to complete the task!

But although this is the fact, they can't respond to their superiors like this, right?

In this way, doesn't it seem that all leaders are idiots with pig brains?
After this, do you still want to make progress and serve the people in the future?

In desperation, these local officials can only use all kinds of methods to meet the rigid targets.

Including, but not limited to, falsifying data. After all, documents are just numbers, they can write whatever they want. Khrushchev couldn't go to the fields himself to verify it, right?
Some even go so far as to use various connections to continuously import large quantities of corn from abroad, and regard it as their own political achievements.

Speaking of this, we have to talk about the story of Zhu Yuanzhang and the rice ear.

Of course, similar things have happened in the past, present and future.

However, Khrushchev was not a fool. No matter what, someone who could sit in this position could not be completely useless.

Although he has criticized this phenomenon of false reporting openly and covertly, he actually did not take it too seriously.

Because, lying can no longer be said to be an unspoken rule, it is a clear rule.

Almost all the numbers within the system are inflated. He also went through this stage, so this is normal.

As the saying goes, if the water is too clear, there will be no fish; if the person is too strict, there will be no followers.

If Khrushchev holds on to the small braids too much, who will follow him in the future?

Anyway, the Polar Bear Alliance is so large that a small "unintentional mistake" is still within the acceptable range.

Little did he know that it was precisely because of this kind of thinking that Khrushchev would be forever nailed to the pillar of shame in history!

Even after decades, when the Polar Bear Alliance has become a thing of the past, the shameful nickname 'Gugulusa' will still accompany him until the end of human civilization!

The next thing is simple, because most areas of the Polar Bear Alliance do not have the same unique geographical conditions as the American "Corn Belt", so the corn planted by farmers in many places has yielded nothing.

As a result, not only is it impossible to provide sufficient feed for livestock, but even human food is threatened because corn cultivation squeezes out other crops.

People are not getting enough food, so how can they still have the energy to feed animals?

Moreover, the cost of using corn stalks as silage is twice as high as the traditional silage such as clover and pasture grass in polar bear areas!
Due to a combination of reasons, Khrushchev's corn policy suffered a ruthless blow from reality!

By the 1960s, this clever policy that Khrushchev had come up with in a fit of rage had become a complete laughing stock.

The people also gave him a nickname, "Gugulusa".

This is a transliteration of the Russian word, written as "кукуруза", which means "corn on the cob".

To sum up, as a second-generation person and a junior, Kravchuk really couldn't think of the right words to answer Lin Zehao's question.

In this regard, he could only choose to remain silent.

"Okay, let's not discuss the past, although I still like eating corn..."

Lin Zehao was the first one to make fun of Khrushchev in front of the current top leader.

Kravchuk swore that if anyone other than Lin Zehao dared to say something similar, he would have the Internal Affairs Committee arrest him and exile him to Siberia to mine!

"What do you think about the future?"

Lin Zehao put his hands in the pockets of his tweed coat, looked at the somewhat desolate land in front of him, and suddenly spoke.

"future?"

Kravchuk repeated the word in Russian and his expression began to change.

He knew that Lin Zehao's problem was definitely not that simple.

The so-called future is not just the future in a broad sense, but also his future and the future of the Polar Bear Alliance.

Kravchuk had to think carefully before answering this question.

After all, when talking to a person like Lin Zehao, even if the topic seems simple, one needs to be careful with words and actions.

Otherwise, no one knows how things will turn out.

Kravchuk was silent for a long time, and after careful consideration, he finally spoke solemnly.

"I was born in January 1934 into a peasant family in Volyn Province, Poland, which was later annexed by the Polar Bear Alliance and became the Rivne Province of Poland."

“And I, too, went from being a Pole to being a Ukrainian, or a citizen of the Polar Bear Alliance.”

"I don't really have any sense of identity with Poland, but I am always grateful to this place where I was born and raised."

“No matter who or what force wants to destroy this land, I will not agree.”

(End of this chapter)