Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 267



Only Krnovel

#267. What about ‘Our Cultural Revolution’?

After Mao Zedong stepped down as chairman, the new chairman, Liu Shaoqi, presided over an emergency meeting with the comrades who had planned the uprising together.

“Thank you all for your hard work. But our problems start from now on. We all know that our economy is in a state of ruin.”

“What’s the use of talking twice?”

“Comrade Tian Yun, please tell me what is the most urgent matter.”

“First of all, food. Second, food. Following last year, this year we have also recorded a great crop failure due to pests and diseases. If we cannot secure food, it is certain that a great disaster will occur this winter as well. No, because the people’s physical strength is so poor, a great disaster will occur even more than last winter.”

“Haa, I’m going crazy… … .”

“How on earth did our republic end up in this state… … .”

Everyone sighed at Tian Yun’s words.

If it’s broken, it’s too broken.

In just a few years.

“Comrade Tian Yun, we all know this. We need a solution! We need a solution. How can we overcome this crisis?”

“What’s the solution? You all probably know that, right? There’s only one way, and that’s to buy food in bulk from overseas.”

“Then hurry up and get the food… … .”

“Where?”

“yes?”

“Our people number over 400 million. No, tens of millions have starved to death, so even that won’t do anymore.”

“… … .”

At this time, the population of northern China increased dramatically as Mao Zedong, who labeled contraception a “separatist maneuver by imperialists,” banned abortion and contraception.

However, the population that had been rapidly increasing for several years ended up in a worse state than at the end of the Chinese Civil War.

“Anyway, our republic has a large population. That large population is also the source of our republic’s national power, but at times like this, it becomes a truly burdensome situation.”

“How much is lacking?”

“Even if we distribute at a minimum level that allows survival, we are short more than 20% of the food we need.”

“oh my god…….”

“Fuck… … .”

If you simply calculate it, 20% of 400 million means that there is a shortage of food for 80 million people, so I just cursed.

“Is that accurate? Even if we simply calculate it, it means that there is a shortage of food for at least 70 to 80 million people. Don’t you think that many people will die just because we can’t import food?”

“Of course that is true. How tenacious is human life?”

“Huh? Tough?”

“Have you heard of the term ‘root bark’? These days, grass and tree bark seem to have become rare, but you can survive on the root bark, or you can somehow find food to survive on the beach or riverside. It’s literally enough to ‘survive.’”

“… … .”

“And then there’s the thing. As we saw in the catastrophe of this spring, people… … .”

“Stop! Stop it. What are you talking about… … .”

“It’s not a rumor. It actually happens a lot. At the meeting yesterday, Vice Chairman Liu… … No, Chairman Liu also mentioned it. In particular, the disaster that happened in Xinyang was truly unbelievable.”

“her…….”

Everyone already knew about the disaster that occurred in Shanyang.

Xinyang of Hanam City.

This place was originally a granary area, and was rich in supplies, so even when there was a major crop failure, the people of Shanyang never suffered from hunger.

However, just as in history, this time too, we were unable to avoid a great disaster in which at least 1 million people starved to death or were beaten to death.

How did it come to this?

Unfortunately, the party cadres were the same then as they are now.

In a word, it is a matter of talent. The main characters of this disaster were Wu Zhifu, the secretary of Henan Province, and Lu Xianwen, the secretary of Xinyang Province.

The whole story was like this.

First, in the original history, in order to earn foreign currency even in the dire circumstances of the Great Leap Forward and to repay the weapons and technical guidance received from the Soviet Union, which had already been lost when Khrushchev took power, they carried out a grand scheme of forcing agricultural and livestock product exports.

Even when his own people were starving to death, Mao Zedong is said to have said, “Starving to death has happened in the past too. Why are you reporting it?”

In the midst of this madness of the Great Leap Forward, party secretaries in charge of local governments had to be extremely cautious.

Because it was a world where if you said one wrong word, you would be branded a right-winger and lose your balls.

However, Uzbekistan, who was in charge of Hanam Province, and Lu Xianyuan, the secretary of Xinyang Province, went beyond the level of preventing the right wing from being pushed to the right wing and went too far in increasing grain production.

Although it is said that everyone was in a frenzy to inflate their performance reports, in reality, in 1958, Henan Province produced 28.1 billion geun, but this was exaggerated and reported as 70.2 billion geun.

The problem was that if you exaggerate and report like this, the amount of supply will automatically increase.

As a result, the people in the castle were plundered for food, almost like pillaging, regardless of whether they starved to death. In the process, many people were beaten to death or tortured to death.

Even if they could not bear this oppression and tried to escape, they set up guard posts everywhere and caught the refugees and beat them to death.

And the people who could not stand the hunger eventually had to resort to cannibalism.

This great disaster, known in history as the “Xinyang Incident” or “Xinyang Incident,” killed a whopping 1.05 million people, according to a report from the Central Investigation Team Leader of the Communist Party to the central government. Of these, more than 10% were said to have been beaten to death, which gives us an idea of ​​how gruesome the disaster that occurred in the Xinyang region of Henan Province at that time was.

However, this time too, although many circumstances changed, Shin Yang was unable to avoid a catastrophe.

Coincidentally, Uzp and Lu Xianwen were in the same place.

“Anyway, yes. It’s true that I said that at least 20% of the population is short of food, but that doesn’t mean that 70 million or 80 million, or 20% of the 400 million, will die. Humans will find a way to survive, whether it’s eating grass roots or locusts, so most of them will ‘survive.’ Probably half of the 20% will survive.”

“So, does that mean that another 30 to 40 million people will starve to death?”

“I think it would be reasonable to look at it that way.”

“… … .”

30 million, 40 million, even though northern China is said to be overflowing with people, it was a terrifying number.

“So, it is correct to say that the minimum food shortage to avoid root and tree bark is 20%.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Back to the main topic, where on earth do we get all that food?”

“How could it not work in Vietnam or Burma? Especially Burma, which originally exported a lot of rice?”

“Ha, they are countries that border our country. Do you think they are safe? They are not as bad as us, but they are suffering from pests and diseases and cannot afford to do so. I even know that some of them are importing because they are short on supplies. It is not a place where we can ask for help, but Chiang Kai-shek’s South China is the same.”

“Then why don’t we try talking to the Soviet Union? When Chairman Mao was here, his relationship with Khrushchev was so bad that they wouldn’t even think about reaching out to him, but not now, right?”

Now that Mao Zedong has fallen, there have been calls to improve relations with the Soviet Union and borrow food.

“Whew! Didn’t I think about that? Of course, since Chairman Mao has fallen, we’ll reach out to the Soviet Union. But the Soviet Union doesn’t have the capacity to lend us that much food. At best, we’ll be able to borrow about 10% of what we need.”

“Then where on earth should we import it from?”

South China is excluded for now.

There is no way to lend it, and South China has also been hit hard, so we have to import it.

Burma and Vietnam are allies of South Korea, so it would be possible to at least try to talk to them, but they say it won’t work because there will be a hit there too.

This is a truly desperate situation.

“There are only two possible places.”

“Where is that?”

“The United States and South Korea.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Both the United States and South Korea are clear enemies.

We didn’t even have formal diplomatic relations with the United States.

“I found out that South Korea has taken the lead in the overseas grain market, including the United States. So, to sum it up, the only country that can sell us the food we need is South Korea.”

“Hmm!”

“Haa! I’m going crazy!”

“How on earth did this happen… … .”

Everyone lamented at Tian Yun’s words, but lamenting could not be the answer.

Finally, Liu Shaoqi opened his mouth again.

“The bottom line is that even if we buy food from the US, it has to go through South Korea.”

“Yes, but I doubt they’d sell it to us or lend it to us.”

“Ugh! Our situation right now is not one where we can worry about our pride or dignity. Even if I have to go and get on my knees and beg, I have to do something about it. Well, there’s no land left to be taken over.”

“… … .”

At that moment, Peng Dehuai opened his mouth.

“Let’s send Comrade Zhou.”

“Comrade Zhou?”

“Yes. Comrade Zhou has been in contact with South Korea since long ago, right? Comrade Zhou will be able to secure food somehow.”

“Hmm, I see. How is Comrade Zhou doing now?”

“I’m on self-isolation at home.”

“Then call me. Although he did not participate in the uprising, I still cannot afford to let a capable person like Comrade Zhou play around.”

“I agree.”

In the end, it was decided to send Zhou Enlai as the food envoy to South Korea.

“Food is enough, there are urgent matters to decide.”

“Huh? Comrade Fung? What is that?”

“We have to decide what to do with Chairman Mao.”

“hmm…….”

“That’s right… … .”

Having caused such a catastrophe, there would be nothing to say even if he were killed a hundred times.

But Mao Zedong couldn’t do that.

Even though he was deposed, his influence was still strong in the military and the party, and also among the people.

If you touch it wrong, chaos will ensue.

That’s why Mao Zedong also brought that up at the expanded meeting.

“Didn’t Chairman Mao say that he would only step down from the chairmanship for now?”

“Of course I did. But is that a good thing?”

“What are you talking about, Comrade Feng?”

“We have all been with Chairman Mao for decades. Well, there must be no one who doesn’t know Chairman Mao, so let me ask you something. What will happen if Chairman Mao returns? Will Chairman Mao just laugh, ‘Ha ha!’ and forget the past and try to do better in the future?”

“… … .”

“… … .”

That couldn’t be happening.

“I can assure you that we are all under Chairman Mao’s thumb. Do you understand what I mean? If he returns, we will all die, and our republic will be in a state of great bloodshed. And you are saying that we will just leave Chairman Mao alone? With his influence intact?”

“Then, what does Comrade Feng suggest we do? If we touch on it any further now, won’t those in the party and military who still follow Mao remain silent?”

“Even if we can’t kill them right away, we have to make sure they can never come back.”

“How do you say that?”

“We must slowly purge those who follow Chairman Mao and eliminate their influence. And one day… … .”

“Someday?”

“We have to sort things out. As long as he lives, he will be a great threat to us and to our republic.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

In the end, no one opened their mouths to listen to Peng Dehuai’s words about killing them.

Mao Zedong’s shadow was that great.

But no one denied what Peng Dehuai said.

Because what he said was right.

After a brief silence, Liu Shaoqi opened his mouth.

“Please do so.”

“Then, I will take charge of it.”

“please.”

As a result, Mao Zedong’s fate took a completely different path from the original history.

***

September 19, 1958.

The Blue House.

“Mao Zedong has fallen.”

Lee Kang-cheol, along with Ko Seok-man and Kim Kyu-sik, received a report on Mao Zedong’s fall from the National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-hyun.

“Isn’t this a bit faster than the original history?”

“That’s definitely true.”

“Well, it can’t be helped since it was expected.”

“But it seems a little different from the original.”

“Huh? Director Cho? What?”

“It seems that Mao Zedong has completely fallen from power.”

“What are you talking about? Weren’t you supposed to step back for a moment?”

“Yes, it seems certain that he has completely lost his power.”

“Oh, no! Then what about ‘Our Cultural Revolution’?”

“… … .”

“… … .”

I don’t know why the Cultural Revolution was called ‘our Cultural Revolution’, but things seemed to be going wrong.