1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

Is this the truth?

There is no doubt that this is the truth. Haruta added slowly:

"Without armed forces, even as the President of the United States, a great deal of energy would be wasted on wrangling with the U.S. military, or even being controlled by it. Reforms would fail. I believe this is not what you want to see..."

If Roosevelt had lived a few more decades, he would have seen what happened to American presidents who failed to control the military.

Just as Truman said he would stop at the Yalu River and not provoke Moscow and Beijing, General MacArthur insisted on spending Christmas in China and forcing the Chinese People's Volunteer Army to cross the river.

Obama just told the US military to hold back and not to actually take action, but then the US fleet commander secretly ordered direct fire on the Chinese navy.

Trump just announced he was going to war with China, and then senior US military generals secretly tipped off China, urging them not to misjudge the situation. Just as he sent someone to investigate US troops in Iraq, a plane crashed.

As soon as the King of Rare Earth promulgated a series of policies, Texas immediately mobilized its military to block the state border, leading a number of states that supported it to confront the federal government.

The congressmen cautiously raised the issues of "$1200 coffee cups" and "6 bags of liners," hoping the military leaders would tone it down a bit.

They then produced an audit report claiming there were no issues and that all procedures were legal and compliant (if you continue to complain, they'll kill you)...

(Of course, these MPs are not righteous people. They bring up such small issues instead of more core issues just to gain a sense of presence and votes from the public.)

(Oh, by the way, besides the coffee cup liner dock, there's also the "investing 500 million to train a certain country's anti-government forces, only to train five or six people and then admit failure" incident. Captain America, which cost 100 million, is one of them.)

The reason for this mess is ultimately one thing: the US president or the federal government simply cannot command the military.

History has fully proved that any leader who does not have an army is a coward.

Roosevelt's attitude softened considerably:

"I understand, but this matter is probably even more difficult than reforming government and party affairs."

"Mr. Roosevelt, you don't seem to me to be a man who is afraid of hardship and death."

"Yes, but I worry about the United States descending into chaos or even war."

"Isn't the current situation chaotic enough? As for war, if it's for America's bright future, why can't we fight a war? Lincoln dared to fight, so do you think I wouldn't dare to fight?"

"this..."

Seeing that Roosevelt was still hesitant, Springfield changed the subject:

"Mr. Roosevelt, I told you before that when I became president, I would appoint you as Secretary of State and President of the Senate. Remember?"

"Ah."

"But I've changed my mind now." "Huh?"

"I want to nominate you as Vice President and give you the initial authority to handle all domestic affairs."

Roosevelt was stunned, and then his breathing became heavy!

In the United States, the vice president has always been an extremely embarrassing and marginalized position.

Because, according to the U.S. Constitution, the vice president is only an "emergency substitute" for the president. When the president can exercise power, the vice president is not allowed to have actual executive power;

It goes without saying what kind of life a Vice President who has no real executive power and absolutely cannot interfere in military affairs lives.

Theodore Roosevelt is a prime example;

Therefore, Roosevelt did not consider the position of vice president at the beginning. When he was recruited in Springfield, he decisively chose the position of secretary of state.

A staff officer can at least fart, but the vice president doesn't even have the power to fart. However, just like there is no rule that "prisoners cannot become president of the United States," the U.S. Constitution also leaves a loophole here:

The Constitution states that the Vice President is not allowed to have statutory executive power, but it does not say that the President is not allowed to delegate his powers to the Vice President.

Not to mention the vice president, as long as the president is willing to share his power, he can designate anyone as the president's "personal representative" to exercise the president's power.

It's just that there has never been such a president before. Roosevelt's voice trembled slightly:

"Ms. Field, you mean..."

"I have a lot of things to do. I want to focus on military affairs." Springfield patted Roosevelt on the shoulder:

"When the time comes, I'll leave all the domestic affairs to you."

"I know, Ms. Field!"

(Don't imagine Roosevelt to be some awesome saint. He was actually just an ordinary man. During the New York State election, he saw that he was lagging behind in the vote count and went home in frustration. In the end, it was his wife and children who told him the result of his narrow victory.)

281 Sorge goes to China again

October 1932, Moscow.

"...The above is my complete report on the Shanghai issue. Please review it."

Richard Sorge finished his words hoarsely and tiredly.

This is the 18th time he has been investigated since returning to China.

Ever since the entire "Ramza Group" was exposed and ordered by Moscow to withdraw from Shanghai, he has never been able to escape the surveillance and questioning of the censors;

Although this process is cumbersome and annoying, Sorge said he can fully understand and support it.

Because, if he were one of these interrogators, after reading his own report, he would also think that he was fooling people.

Who brought down the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and how did they do it? I don't know!

Well, how did that note get to your villa? I don't know!

How did information about the Ramza Group's members and work come to light?

I don’t know!

If you were in my shoes, you would also suspect that these bastards were fooling you and would want to interrogate them eight times a day. (Chapter 066)

However, all members of the Ramza group, including Sorge himself, had their grievances in silence.

They really didn't know how they were exposed, and they were not even aware of anything unusual until the moment they confirmed the exposure.

They clearly did not lie, but even they themselves suspected that they were lying.

After Sorge finished his report, the two new interrogators sent by the Red Army General Staff carefully looked at the materials, looked at each other, and nodded to each other.

Very good, it completely matches the previous interrogation records, and it completely matches the 18th round of interrogation records of other members of Ramza's team, without any discrepancies.

so...

Sukabuli! Another damn trial in vain!

Sorge had a headache, do you think the interrogators didn't have a headache too? They had an even bigger headache!

For those who have been working on the intelligence front for a long time, having no flaws is the biggest flaw!

Of course, according to general rules, whether there are flaws or even evidence is actually irrelevant;

Because when it comes to espionage and intelligence work, we must always believe in the principle of "guilty until proven guilty";

No matter if there is any substantial evidence or not, from the moment we suspect you, you are guilty!

But not this time.

Because the order from above was to find out what exactly happened to the "Ramza Group" and why such a big change had occurred. Conviction itself was not the most important thing;

Otherwise, Sorge would have already experienced all the methods of the Soviet intelligence agencies.

Shortly after this round of interrogation ended, the mentally tortured Sorge finally met his old boss, Pavel Ivanovich Berzin, director of the Fourth Department of the Red Army General Staff:

"Comrade Director..." "Comrade Sorge..."

This young man, who was only in his early 30s, had messy hair, dark circles under his eyes, and a tired look. He looked at his subordinates who had also lost a lot of weight due to continuous interrogation and comforted them:

"Don't worry, Sorge, I know you haven't betrayed communism, this is just organizational..."

"I know it's necessary for safety reasons, and I don't blame them." Sorge interrupted his boss's question and said directly:

"I'm just curious, haven't you found the reason yet?"

Berzin shook his head bitterly:

"You know your report well enough. It doesn't contain much valuable information. Contact with Shanghai has been almost completely lost. We're lucky to be able to confirm that you and your team haven't betrayed us."

"Then... why is this time so ostentatious? The people interrogating me don't seem to be colleagues from Bureau 4. There's something distinctly off about the smell of many of them."

He truly deserves to be the most outstanding person in Far East intelligence work.

Even though he and his subordinates were being interrogated, Berzin couldn't help but sigh.

As Sorge had guessed, the interrogation of the "Ramza Group" was not only carried out by the Fourth Bureau of the General Headquarters of the Soviet Red Army, where he had previously served, but also by other Soviet intelligence agencies:

The Far Eastern Intelligence Bureau of the General Staff of the Red Army, the intelligence departments of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs and the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs system, the State Political Security Bureau...

Even the intelligence team of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist International, which had suffered a severe blow in 1931 and had basically stopped working, got involved!

Anyway, once an order was given, all kinds of people got the report submitted by Sorge, and then asked about the details of the report over and over again.

Where did this command come from?

Kremlin.

Yes, this matter has reached the highest authority in the Soviet Union and has been reported to that man, which is why there was this extraordinary review.

After much deliberation, Berzin concluded that the higher-ups had almost confirmed that the Ramza Group had not betrayed him. He then told Sorge about this, and the latter was very surprised:

"Even Comrade Stalin knew about it?"

"Yes, your report has attracted great attention from all parties, especially Comrade Stalin..."

Seeing that no one was around, Berzin quietly approached Sorge and lowered his voice to an almost inaudible level:

"He genuinely suspected that there was a secret group within the Party's upper echelons that was plotting against the Party and committing treasonous acts against the country and was sabotaging the Soviet revolution and the cause of communism..."

Sorge's pupils shrank slightly, and white sweat broke out on his back. Thinking of the information he had received, fear rose in his heart unconsciously.

Great cleaning.

In fact, the famous "Great Purge" did not begin in 1937, but there were quite obvious signs shortly after Stalin came to power.

Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Lin... these people didn't ask to be expelled from the party on their own initiative, did they?

Putting aside others, the "prophet" publicly predicted in 1927 when he was expelled from the Soviet Union and attended the last supreme leadership conference that Stalin would purge everyone, including but not limited to him and his supporters.

Therefore, many people had actually sensed the coming of the Great Purge, but due to their limited experience in past struggles, they regarded it as an ordinary dispute within the party and did not take it too seriously;

(Before the Great Purge, inner-party struggles in the Soviet Union were relatively mild, relying on the correctness of theory and decision-making, resolving issues through debate and voting, allowing people to make mistakes, retain their opinions, and giving people the opportunity to correct their mistakes.)

(As Stalin fought for the top leadership, this struggle gradually evolved into a life-and-death power struggle that involved no action at all costs, completely changing its nature.)

Of course, this is also due to the fact that Stalin has always been known as a "good guy" in the party. Lenin even described him as "soft-hearted, not decisive enough, and always compromising when encountering problems."

Therefore, although he knew that the Great Purge was coming, Sorge was not very afraid. His fear was simply disgust for the unknown future and worry about the serious consequences that his report might cause.

Who will be eliminated this time?

However, Comrade Stalin's suspicions were probably correct.

Otherwise, how do we explain the fact that all the telegrams between the "Ramza Group" and Moscow were known to that mysterious force?

"...Comrade Sorge, you should rest for a while. Once you recover, we will assign you work."

"No, Comrade Director, this time such a big problem occurred in Shanghai, which caused the great Soviet Union's intelligence work in the Far East, especially in Shanghai, to completely lose control. I bear the main responsibility."

Sorge said sadly:

"I request the organization to send me back to China. Even if I die, I must find out what happened over there and who is interfering with us!"

"this..."

Seeing Sorge's resolute attitude, Berzin hesitated for a moment and nodded in agreement:

"Okay, please wait for me to report to the higher-ups. Your decision to stay or go is no longer entirely up to me."

A few days later, Berzin brought a notice from the higher-level organization.

They gave Sorge three options, or two options to be precise: 1. Go to Shanghai and rebuild the intelligence organization there.

Because Sorge's identity had been exposed, even if the intelligence network was reorganized, he would never be allowed to work in Shanghai and its surrounding areas. This option was actually rejected by Berzin at the first opportunity.

2. Travel to Japan as a German journalist and establish the Soviet Union's intelligence network against Japan.

Since Sorge's official identity was a member of the Nazi Party, he could first go to Germany to obtain legal status and then go to Japan to work. This was relatively safe, and this option was what Berzin most supported.

3. He traveled directly to Manchuria, Northeast China, as a member of the German Nazi Party and a journalist.

"Why Northeast China? Did something happen there?"

Sorge could fully understand the first two decisions, but he was puzzled by the third one: